BOSTON, 


Helped  to  Make  It 


BY  C.  E.  CAS  WELL 


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BOSTON,  CONCORD  &  MONTREAL 

STORY  OF  THE  BUILDING  AND  EARLY 
DAYS  OF  THIS  ROAD 


y 


M 


-\ 


BY  C.  E.  CASWELL 


1919 

THE  NEWS  PRESS 
Warren,  N.  II. 


H£ 

17<?/ 

CM 

/m 


EDICATED  to  the  memory  of 
the  pioneers  who  made  rail¬ 
road  history  in  the  north  coun¬ 
try  with  hand  brakes  and  wood 
burning  locomotives,  when  railroad¬ 
ing  was  in  its  infancy . Good  and 

true  men,  the  most  of  whom  have 
finished  their  work,  lain  aside  their 
grimy  suit  of  blue  for  a  robe  of  white 

and  passed  to  the  great  beyond . 

Many  of  whose  names  are  spoken  al¬ 
most  with  reverence;  though  they  are 
dead  they  yet  live  and  their  works 

will  never  die . May  their  ashes 

rest  in  peace,  for  “they  budded  better 
than  they  knew.” 

« 

—  C.  E.  CASWELL. 

Warren,  N.  II. 

WBHWWBEa 


AUG  1  9  1993 


y 


t 


3 

BOSTON,  CONCORD  &  MONTREAL. 

Story  of  the  Building  and  Early 
Days  of  This  Railroad. 

BY  C.  E.  CASWELL. 


The  first  railroad  in  the  United 
States  was  at  Qunicy,  Mass.,  from 
the  granite  quarries  to  the  Neponset 
river,  and  it  was  run  by  horse-power. 
As  early  ias  1782,  Oliver  Evans  of 

Philadelphia  patented  a  steam-wag- 
on.  He  built  a  high-pressure  engine, 
placed  it  on  wheel's,  and  it  trans¬ 
ported  itself  a  mile  and  a  half.  But 
it  was  not  until  1829  that  a  loco¬ 
motive  was  actually  running  in  Am¬ 
erica.  The  first  American  engine  to 
be  run  in  the  United  States  was  the 
“Tom  Thumb”,  constructed  by  Peter 
Cooper  and  placed  on  the  Baltimore 
and  Ohio  road  in  1830.  This  was  too 
small  to  be  of  practical  service;  but 
the  same  year  the  locomotive  “Best 
Friend”  was  built  in  New  York  and 
put  on  the  road  between  that  city  and 
the  town  of  Hamburg,  being  the  first 
working  locomotive  built  in  America. 
The  first  actual  and  practical  use  of 
a  locomotive  on  an  American  road 
was  on  a  railroad  built  in  1828  by  the 
Delaware  and  Hudson  canal  company 
from  their  mines  to  Honesdale,  the 
terminus  of  the  canal,  and  where  a 
locomotive  imported  from  England 
was  running  in  the  summer  of  1829. 


At  the  New  Hampshire  legislature 
in  1844  the  Boston,  Concord  &  Mon¬ 
treal  Railroad  was  chartered  to  be 
built  from  the  town  of  Haverhill  to 
Concord.  The  charter  in  part  read: 

“Be  it  enacted  by  the  Senate  and 
House  of  Representatives  in  General 
Court  Convened, — That  James  Cofran, 
Zanes  Clement,  John  Taylor,  William 
Badger,  Stephen  Gale,  David  Pingree, 
Warren  Lovell,  Samuel  Bean,  Ob- 
adiah  Smith,  Walter  Blair,  William 
Russell,  Josiah  Quincy,  John  Page, 


John  McClary,  John  McDuffee,  Wm. 
A.  Woods,  Samuel  Ross,  Daniel  Pat¬ 
terson,  William  V.  Hutchins,  Arte- 
mus  Morse,  Cyrus  Eastman,  William 
Brackett,  James  Allen,  Samuel  Hutch¬ 
ins,  Jacob  Kent,  Jr.,  their  associates, 
successors,  and  assigns,  be  and  here¬ 
by  are  made  a  body  politic  and  cor¬ 
porate  by  the  name  of  the  Boston, 
Concord  &  Montreal  Railroad,  and 
by  that  name  may  sue  and  be  sued, 
prosecute  and  be  prosecuted  to  final 
judgment  and  execution,  and  are 
hereby  vested  with  all  the  powers 
necessary  and  proper  to  carry  into 
effect  the  purposes  and  objects  of 
this  act;  but  shall  hold  no  more  land 
exclusive  of  that  within  the  limits  of 
the  rohd  and  land  purchased  to  pro¬ 
cure  stones,  sand  and  gravel  than 
shall  be  worth  at  the  time  of  its  pur¬ 
chase  five  per  cent  of  the  capital 
stock  of  the  corporation. 

The  said  corporation  is  hereby 
authorized  and  empowered  to  con¬ 
struct  and  finally  complete  for  public 
use,  and  keep  in  use  a  railroad,  be¬ 
ginning  at  any  point  on  the  westerly 
bank  of  the  Connecticut  river  oppo¬ 
site  Haverhill  or  Littleton  in  this 
State,  or  any  town  on  said  river  be¬ 
tween  the  towns  aforesaid,  thence 
passing  in  the  direction  of  the  Oliver- 
ian  route,  so  called,  to  Plymouth, 
thence  by  a  route  over  and  in  the  di¬ 
rection  of  the  valley  of  the  Pemi- 
gewasset,  or  Winnipissiogee,  or  Mer¬ 
rimack  rivers,  or  over  and  in  the  di¬ 
rection  of  said  rivers  or  such  part  of 
the  valleys  of  either  of  the  same,  as 
shall  be  deemed  best  to  accomodate 
the  public,  to  any  point  in  Concord 
or  Bow,  so  as  to  enter  on  the  Concord 
railroad,  and  having  the  right  to  use 
the  same  or  any  part  thereof,  paying 
therefor  such  a  rate  of  toll  as  the 

Legislature  may  from  time  to  time 
prescribe,  and  complying  with  such 
rules  and  regulations  the  said  Con¬ 
cord  Railroad  Company  may  estab¬ 
lish.  Provided,  that  if  said  Boston, 


4 

Concord  &  Montreal  Railroad  shall  be 
located  and  constructed  so  as  to  en¬ 
ter  the  valley  of  the  Merrimack  river 
at  any  point  in  the  town  of  Franklin, 
or  at  any  point  between  said  town 
and  the  point  where  it  shall  enter  in 
and  upon  the  Concord  Railroad  afore¬ 
said  the  Northern  railroad  having 
been  first  located  and  constructed; 
the  said  Boston,  Concord  &  Mon¬ 
treal  Railroad  shall  have  a  right  to 
enter  in  and  upon  said  Northern 
railroad  at  such  point  and  have  the 
right  to  use  the  part  thereof  between 
such  point  and  said  Concord  railroad, 
subject  to  such  toll  and  laws  as  the 
Legislature  may  from  time  to  time 
prescribe,  and  the  by-laws  and  reg¬ 
ulations  of  said  Northern  Railroad.” 


The  last  Section  of  the  charter  says 
“No  person  who  is  not  a  citizen  of 
the  United  States,  and  living  within 
the  jurisdiction  of  the  same,  shall 
ever  be  an  officer  or  conductor  of 
this  corporation.”  The  charter  is 
signed  by  HARRY  HIBBARD,  Speak¬ 
er  of  the  House  of  Representatives; 
TIMOTHY  HOSKINS,  President  of 
the  Senate;  and  Approved  by  JOHN 
STEELE,  Governor,  December  27th, 
1844.  Seven  days  later  Secretary  of 
State,  THOMAS  TREADWELL  af¬ 
fixed  to  the  charter  the  state  seal 
over  his  signature,  dating  it  January 
3,  1845. 

New  Hampshire  railroad  laws  at 
that  time  (74)  years  ago,  were  few 
and  brief.  Those  on  the  statutes  at 
that  time  comprised  but  twenty  sec¬ 
tions.  There  was  no  difficulty  in  dis¬ 
posing  of  stock  of  the  new  corpora¬ 
tion  sufficient  to  warrant  the  begin¬ 
ning  of  construction.  Previous  to 
granting  of  the  charter  a  survey  had 
been  made  from  Haverhill  (Woods- 
vilile)  to  Concord  by  John  McDuffee 
at  a  cost  of  a  thousand  dollars,  and 
Section  10  of  the  charter  stated  that 
if  a  railroad  was  constructed  over  the 


route  or  under  the  charter  the  cor¬ 
poration  must  reimburse  McDuffee  to 
that  amount. 


Jeremiah  S.  Jewett  drove  the  first 
stake  at  Concord  for  building  of  the 
road.  Later  Mr.  Jewett  engaged  in 
the  mercantile  business  at  Warren 
and  for  years  made  money.  Later  in 
life  he  became  a  Methodist  minister. 

Work  of  building  the  road  went 
steadily  on  and  the  first  printed  re¬ 
port  the  corporation  issued  was  in 
1848;  (71)  years  ago.  Up  to  that 
time  there  had  been  expended  $325, 
608.06  and  for  this  amount  of  ex¬ 
penditure  the  road  had  been  built 
from  Concord  to  Sanbornton  Bridge 
(now  Tilton)  and  was  then  ready  for 
use.  From  Sanbornton  Bridge  to 
Lake  Village  the  road  was  well  under 
way  in  May  of  that  year;  but  beyond 
Lake  Village  not  much  had  been  ac¬ 
complished  aside  from  the  survey. 
The  18  miles  of  road  from  Concord 
cos i  approximately  $215,176  11.  The 
cirs  and  engines  for  working  the 
road,  that  had  been  purchased  and 
contracted  for  up  to  lhat  time,  ac¬ 
cording  to  the  annual  report  of  the 
directors  were  as  follows:  1  small  en¬ 
gine,  for  gravel  train;  2  eighteen  ton 
passenger  engines;  1  twenty  ton 
freight  engine;  4  eight-wheel  passen¬ 
ger  cars;  10  eight- wheel  box  freight 
cars;  6  eight-wheel  platform  cars; 
8  four-wheel  box  freight  cars;  8  four- 
wheel  platform  freight  cars;  5  dump¬ 
ing  cars;  2  pairs  of  baggage  cars. 
Of  these,  at  that  time,  the  small  18 
ton  passenger  engine,  four  passenger 
cars,  six  8-wheel  platform  cars,  and 
fifteen  dumping  cars  had  been  re¬ 
ceived  and  paid  for  and  were  in  use 
upon  the  road.  The  residue  were  to 
be  delivered  from  time-to-time,  and 
the  directors  in  this  report  stated  it 
would  require  about  $33,000  to  pay 
for  them.  The  iron  for  the  twenty- 
nine  miles  from  Concord  to  Lake 
Village  at  this  time  had  been  obtained 


on  very  favorable  terms.  The  pattern 
adopted  was  of  the  weight  of  50-lbs. 
to  the  yard  but  by  laying  the  track 
with  bearings  of  two  feet  and  six 
inches  it  was  believed  to  be  of  equal 
if  not  greater  strength  than  a  heavier 
rail  with  the  usual  bearings  of  three 
feet.  A  few  months  previous  to  this 
the  directors  sent  an  agent  to  Eng¬ 
land  who  made  contracts  for  twenty- 
two  hundred  tons  of  rails,  at  a  price 
which  would  lay  them  down  in  Bos¬ 
ton  at  a  cost  no't  varying  materially 
from  about  $60  per  ton,  and  about 
$60,000  were  remitted  in  advance  as 
part  payment.  By  the  terms  of  the 
contract,  fifteen  hundred  tons  were 
to  be  shipped  in  the  summer,  so  as 
to  allow  the  road  to  Sanbornton 
Bridge  (Tilton)  to  be  opened  in  the 
fall  of  1847.  This  expectation  was 
disappointed  by  the  failure  of  the 
contractors  to  ship  at  the  time  agreed 
upon,  and  in  consequence  the  open¬ 
ing  of  the  road  was  delayed  until  the 
next  spring.  For  this  delay  damages 
were  claimed,  and  by  agreement  four 
thousand  five  hundred  dollars  were 
allowed  in  money,  and  a  contract 
taken  for  further  quantity  at  a  re¬ 
duced  price.  Two  shipments,  am¬ 
ounting  to  350  tons,  were  lost  at  sea, 
but  were  covered  by  insurance  at  a 
valuation  which  enabled  the  corpor¬ 
ation  to  realize  a  profit  of  nearly 
$3,000.  These  two  items  served  to  re¬ 
duce  the  cost  of  the  rails  from  Con¬ 
cord  to  Sanbornton  Bridge  (Tilton)  to 
about  $58  per  ton. 

The  Boston,  Concord  &  Montreal 
Railroad  was  chartered  within  the 
right  to  construct  a  railroad  from 
Concord  to  Haverhill,  and  could  un¬ 
der  the  charter  extend  the  same 
northwards  to  the  north  line  of  Lit¬ 
tleton.  The  time  allowed  by  the 
charter  for  such  work  was  until  the 
year  1855. 

The  directors  in  their  report  of 
1848  said  “it  has  been  proposed,  and 
some  efforts  it  is  understood  have 


been  made,  by  some  of  the  kind 
friends,  who,  though  not  themselves 
stockholders,  have  been  in  times  past 
so  exceedingly  anxious  to  watch  over 
the  interests  of  this  corporation,  that 
the  road  should  stop  at  Meredith. 
The  directors  can  only  say,  that  in 
their  judgment  the  proposition  to 
stop  at  Meredith  would  be  equalled 
in  folly  only  by  a  proposal  to  stop 
all  existing  railroads  at  a  point  at 
which  they  are  now.  The  history  of 
railroads  in  this  country  is  a  short 
one,  but  thus  far  no  instance  is  re¬ 
corded  of  a  railroad  being  discon¬ 
tinued  at  any  point  beyond  which 
there  was  a  country  to  extend  into. 
The  rule  seems  to  be  one  of  constant 
progression.  It  is  not  believed  the 
Boston,  Concord  &  Montreal  Rail¬ 
road  will  prove  an  exception.”  N“The 
idea  that  the  people  of  Northern  New 
Hampshire  would  be  content  to  see 
the  enterprise  cut  short  at  Meredith, 
and  left  to  the  accommodation  of  a 
mere  spur  or  branch  from  the  North¬ 
ern  Road,  owned  by  a  corporation 
whose  sympathies  and  interests  are 
not  in  harmony  with  theirs,  and  to 
extend  a  longer  or  shorter  distance, 
at  their  will  and  pleasure  is  absurd. 
The  people  of  northern  New  Hamp¬ 
shire  wish  to  see  our  road  completed, 
and  in  this  feeling  they  have  been 
sustained  by  a  very  large  majority  of 
the  people  of  the  state,  who  have  re¬ 
peatedly  expressed  their  views 
through  their  representatives.  The 
directors  do  not  believe  that  this  cor¬ 
poration  itself,  if  disposed,  could 
prevent  the  extension  of  the  railroad 
from  Meredith  to  Haverhill.  Should 
we  abandon  the  upper  part  of  the 
route,  another  corporation  would  no 
doubt  be  immediately  created,  to 
build  another  road  over  it.”  The 
board  of  directors  consisted  of  the 
following  gentlemen:  Josiah  Quincy, 
President;  E.  Hasket  Derby,  T.  Far¬ 
rar,  Zenas  Clement,  S.  C.  Lyford,  Ira 
Goodall,  James  M.  Whiton. 


6 


On  the  22nd  day  of  May,  1848,  reg¬ 
ular  trips  of  passenger  trains  com¬ 
menced  between  Concord  and  San- 
bornton  Bridge  (now  Tilton),  and  a 
freight  began  to  run  the  first  of  June 
of  that  same  year.  On  the  8th  of 
August  the  roiad  was  opened  to  Mere¬ 
dith  Bridge  (now  Laconia)  and  to 
Lake  Village  (now  Lakeport)  the 
next  October.  On  the  19th  of  March, 
1849  it  was  further  opened  to  Mere¬ 
dith  Village.  Thirty-eight  miles  of 
the  road  had  been  opened  within 
twelve  months  ending  on  the  1st  of 
May  of  that  year.  In  addition  to 
this,  three  miles  moire  of  road-bed 
had  been  prepared  and  was  then 
ready  for  the  rails  to  be  laid  down, 
carrying  the  road  to  -the  foot  of 
Fogg’s  hill  in  New  Hampton,  and 
within  nine  miles  of  Plymouth. 

During  the  time  the  cars  had  been 
running  up  to  May  1,  1849,  a  period 
of  only  twenty-two  days  of  one  year, 
the  directors  stated  it  worthy  of  note, 
that  in  only  one  instance  had  there 
been  a  failure  to  meet  the  connecting 
roads  at  the  proper  time,  occasioned 
at  the  time  of  a  heavy  snow  in  the 
winter  by  an  irregular  transmission 
of  orders.  Up  to  that  time  no  acci¬ 
dents  had  occurred  on  the  road,  no 
life  had  been  lost,  nor  so  far  as  could 
be  learned  had  any  material  injury 
occurred  to  any  person  or  to  the 
property  of  the  company.  The  am¬ 
ount  paid  for  damages  to  that  date 
was  $22.76  for  a  cow  destroyed  by 
one  of  the  locomotives  the  previous 
October. 

At  the  session  of  the  legislature  of 
1848  a  charter  was  granted  and  a 
company  soon  organized  for  the  pur¬ 
pose  of  building  a  steamboat  to  ply 
on  Lake  Winnipesaukee.  This  en¬ 
terprise  insured  a  large  increase  of 
travel  over  the  road  during  the  sum¬ 
mer  months.  The  railroad  aided  the 
new  company  in  building  such  a 
steamboat  to  the  extent  of  $5,000  and 
the  side-wheel  propelled  Lady  of  the 
Lake  was  built. 


The  directors  in  their  report  this 
year  mentioned  the  fact  that  depot 
buildings  and  station  houses  had 
been  built  as  needed.  They  were  of 
neat  appearance  and  conveniently  ar¬ 
ranged.  The  repair  shop  was  at 
Lake  Village,  a  most  convenient  point 
and  affording,  at  comparatively  little 
cost  all  the  facilities  for  keeping  the 
railroad  machinery  in  a  most  effec¬ 
tive  state. 

The  final  survey  started  for  the 
roadway  between  Meredith  and  Ply¬ 
mouth.  By  a  re-survey  a  saving  was 
made  in  crossing  the  Summit  in  Hold- 
erness  of  some  $20,000  or  more  by  the 
change  in  the  location  of  the  line  on 
one  section  alone.  Between  the  Sum¬ 
mit  and  the  Pemigewasset,  an  entire 
change  was  made  and  another  im¬ 
portant  saving  thereby  effected.  The 
re-surveys  between  West  Rumney  and 
Wentworth  village  resulted  in  the 
abandonment  of  a  route  through  the 
Buffalo  Pass,  by  which  it  was  claimed 
was  effected  a  saving  of  not  less  than 
$13,000,  even  supposing  'the  line  had 
gone  through  the  Pass  at  a  60  foot 
grade  and  no  rocks  encountered.  At 
that  time  it  was  estimated  that  the 
saving  by  a  re-survey  from  Meredith 
Bridge  (Laconia)  to  Wentworth  was 
not  less  than  $75,000,  while  the  dis¬ 
tance  had  not  been  increased  half  a 
mile. 

Up  to  this  time  the  road  had  three 
18-ton  passenger  engines,  twro  20-ton 
freight  engines,  one  gravel  engine, 
four  box  freight  cars,  nine  section  or 
push  cars,  eight  hand-cars  for  track¬ 
men,  besides  the  equipment  of  rolling 
stock  on  hand  the  year  before.  There 
were  ready  for  delivery  early  in  the 
summer  of  1849  two  new  passenger 
cars  and  one  new  locomotive. 

Right  here  it  would  not  be  out  of 
place  to  publish  a  paragraph  from 
the  Boston  Daily  Advertiser,  of  Feb¬ 
ruary  1,  1849,  giving  the  number  of 
passengers  over  several  of  the  prin¬ 
cipal  railroads  in  Massachusetts,  av¬ 
eraged,  per  train  during  that  year. 


These  roads  all  terminated  in  Bos¬ 
ton.  Boston  &  Maine,  averages  per 
train  64  passengers;  Boston  &  Low¬ 
ell,  60;  Boston  &  Worcester,  60;  Bos¬ 
ton  &  Providence,  48;  Fitchburg, 
4714;  Old  Colony,  4314- 

During  the  year  of  1849  contracts 
were  made  for  about  30,000  sleepers 
to  be  delivered  on  the  line  of  the 
road  for  15  cents  for  hemlock,  and 
oak  or  ash  at  18  cents.  Bridge  tim¬ 
ber  for  two  bridges  over  Baker’s  riv¬ 
er,  amounting  to  about  80.000  feet 
at  $11  per  thousand;  the  freight  and 
passenger  depot  at  Wentworth,  was 
also  finished  at  a  cost  of  $500.  The 
freight  and  passenger  depot  at  War¬ 
ren,  also  engine  house  and  car  house 
was  gotten  under  way  and  a  little 
later  completed  at  a  cost  of  $1,350. 
All  the  fencing  from  West  Rumney 
to  WTarren  was  done  at  85  cents  a 
rod.  In  1849  the  Boston.  Concord  & 
Montreal  property  and  equipment  was 
as  follows:  Track  from  Concord  to 
Plymouth,  51  miles  and  480  feet;  side 
tracks,  2  miles,  373  feet;  blacksmith 
shop  at  Concord;  depot  and  wood 
shed.  East  Concord;  depot,  Canter¬ 
bury;  depot  and  two  wood  sheds  at 
Northfield;  freight  depot  and  engine 
house  at  Sanbornton,  (Tilton) ;  de¬ 
pot,  Union  Bridge;  passenger  and 
freight  depot,  Meredith  Bridge  (La¬ 
conia);  Lake  Village:  repair  shop, 
engine  house,  waste  house,  car  house, 
wood  shed,  freight  house,  passenger 
depot;  depot  at  Weirs  Bridge;  de¬ 
pot  at  Steamboat  wharf,  Weirs 
Bridge;  Meredith  Village:  passenger 
depot,  freight  house,  engine  house 
and  wood  shed;  depot  at  Holderness; 
Plymouth:  passenger  depot,  freight 

depot,  car  house,  wood  shed,  engine 
house;  six  car  houses  at  sundry 
places  for  hand  cars  and  road  tools, 
turn  tables  at  Sanbornton,  Meredith, 
Lake  Village  and  Plymouth;  depot 
furniture,  clocks,  scales,  safes,  etc., 
valued  at  $1,530.32;  road  tools,  hand 
and  gravel  cars,  etc.,  costing  $6,045.- 


28;  machinery  and  tools  in  shop, 
$11,113.44;  four  1st  class  passenger 
18  ton  engines,  two  1st  class  20-ton 
freight  engines,  1  second-class  gravel 
engine;  7  eight-wheel  long  passenger 
cars,  4  eight-wheel  baggage  and  post 
office  cars.  Of  the  freight  equipment 
there  were  133  freight  cars  including 
box  and  platform  cars.  There  were 
15  gravel  or  dumping  cars,  10  hand 
cars,  7  section  cars. 

With  reference  to  free  passing  over 
the  system  during  the  month  of  April, 
I860,  passes  were  issued  ias  follows: 
22  agents,  23  directors,  -wood  agents 
and  clerks  27,  road  master  and  resi¬ 
dent  engineer  18,  freight  agent  6, 
paymaster’s  clerk  4,  engineers  6, 
contractors  18,  officers  of  steamboat 
company  18,  railroad  commissioners 
5,  relatives  of  a  Mr.  Dearborn,  a  B. 
C.  &  M.  brakeman  killed  at  Lowell,  6, 
section  men,  shop  hands,  station 
agents,  conductors,  brakemen,  etc., 
117 

At  this  time  (1849)  there  were  em¬ 
ployed  in  the  running  department 
two  passenger  conductors  each  re¬ 
ceiving  a  salary  of  $500  a  year;  three 
passenger  brakemen  at  $1.25  a  day; 
two  passenger  engineers  each  re¬ 
ceiving  $55  a  month;  two  passenger 
firemen  each  receiving  $1.25  per 
day.  General  ticket  agent  $500  per 
year. 

Freight  conductors  received  $550 
per  year  and  there  were  three  of 
them;  one  freight  engineer  at  $50  a 
month  and  one  fireman  at  $1.25  per 
dqy. 

At  Plymouth  there  was  a  general 
freight  agent  receiving  a  salary  of 
$750  a  year,  and  two  assistants  at 
$1.00  a  day.  The  station  agents  re¬ 
ceived  $1.25  a  day,  with  three  or  four 
exceptions  where  the  pay  was  $1.12:^4 
At  Canterbury  the  duty  of  station 
master  was  performed  by  the  section 
gang.  There  was  one  switchman  at 
Concord  and  he  received  $1.25  a  day. 
The  paymaster  and  general  bookkeep- 


if 


er  received  a  salary  of  $600  a  year. 
Superintendent  of  the  repair  shop  at 
Lake  Village  received  $800  a  year; 
he  had  three  machinists  who  were 
paid  $1.50  a  day  each,  one  $1.25  and 
another  who  received  $1.00.  The 
foreman  of  the  blacksmith  shop  got 
$2.00  a  day.  There  were  three  assist¬ 
ants  whose  pay  were  $1.00,  $1.17  and 
$1.50  per  day.  The  foreman  of  wood 
shop  received  $2.00  a  day  while  seven 
wood  workmen  each  received  $1.50. 
There  were  two  watchmen  who  also 
acted  as  switchmen  at  $1.00  a  day. 
The  shop’s  time  keeper  was  paid  $1.00 
a  day.  These  prices  are  given  that 
may  be  noted  the  contrast  in  wages 
paid  70  years  ago  and  the  prices  of 
the  present  day.  At  the  time  of  these 
prices  the  road  had  nine  sections  of 
about  six  miles  each,  and  the  section 
foreman  worked  for  $1.25  a  day  and 
'the  other  trackmen  received  $1.00  a 
day;  in  all,  nine  men  at  $1.25  and 
eighteen  men  at  $1.00  per  day.  There 
was  one  engineer  of  gravel  trains 
working  at  $1.50  and  his  fireman  for 
$1.00. 

It  was  in  June  1851  the  road  was 
completed  to  Warren  and  opened  for 
business.  At  the  annual  meeting  on 
the  27th  of  May,  1851  the  directors 
were  instructed  to  proceed  with  the 
remaining  division  between  Warren 
and  Wells  River,  at  a  cost  estimated 
at  $500,000.  Work  was  started  at 
once  and  rushed  to  completion  as  fast 
as  possible. 

In  the  month  of  August,  1846 
ground  was  first  broken  in  Concord 
for  the  building  of  the  Boston,  Con¬ 
cord  &  Montreal  Railroad.  On  the 
tenth  day  of  May,  1848,  the  cars  pass¬ 
ed  over  the  first  section  of  the  work, 
from  Concord  to  Sanbornton  Bridge 
(now  Tilton)  18  miles.  The  road 
was  further  opened  to  Meredith 
Bridge  (now  Laconia)  in  August,  and 
to  Lake  Village  in  October,  of  the 
same  year;  to  Meredith  Village  in 
March,  1849;  to  Fogg’s  Hill  in  July 


of  the  same  year;  to  Plymouth  in 
January,  1850;  to  Warren  in  June, 
1851;  and  on  the  10th  day  of  May, 
1853  the  road  was  opened  for  public 
use  to  its  terminus  at  Wells  River — • 
93  miles  from  Concord. 

In  1852  the  road  met  with  some  re¬ 
verses.  There  were  unusually  heavy 
expenses  for  repairs  that  year  in¬ 
cluding  a  wreck  at  the  Weirs  the  fall 
before,  and  a  number  of  freight  cars 
had  to  be  replaced.  A  number  of 
freight  cars  were  broken  up  by  being 
derailed  on  the  Manchester  and  Law¬ 
rence  road  the  February  before. 

The  first  serious,  wreck  to  occur  on 
the  road  took  place  in  October,  1852 
near  the  Weirs,  which  resulted  in  the 
loss  of  six  lives,  and  injuries  and 
bruises  to  some  forty  persons. 

In  those  early  days  that  discipline 
and  strict  rules  in  many  particulars 
were  maintained  is  evident,  for  in  the 
annual  report  of  the  directors  for  the 
year  1852  they  had  a  special  message 
to  the  stockholders  as  follows:  “The 
proper  precautions  for  safety  to  the 
trains,  passengers  and  freight,  have 
at  all  times  had  the  most  anxious 
consideration  of  the  directors  and 
superintendent.  The  discipline  of 
the  road  has  been  as  rigid,  it  is  be¬ 
lieved,  as  can  possibly  be  carried  in¬ 
to  effect.  Under  our  system  an  em¬ 
ployee  is  uniformly  discharged  for 
negligence,  or  neglect  of  orders  which 
might  possibly  cause  an  accident, 
even  if  none  should  occur.  In¬ 
stances  of  neglect  or  disobedience 
have  been  rare  but,  when  they  have 
occurred,  the  discipline  has  been 

strictly  enforced,  even  in  one  instance 
to  the  removal  of  a  valuable  man, 
whose  duties  were  governed  by  time, 
for  allowing  his  watch  to  stop.  Care 
is  taken  to  employ  none  but  men  of 
correct  moral  habits,  and  no  person 
known  to  use  ardent  spirits  is  al¬ 
lowed  to  be  employed  about  the  road.” 


t 


Mr.  James  N.  Elkins,  who  from  the 
start  had  been  connected  with  the 
road  as  sort  of  general  manager, 
performed  his  last  day  of  active  ser¬ 
vice  May  10,  1853  on  the  day  of  the 
annual  meeting  of  the  corporation  at 
Woodsville  depot,  which  was  the  day 
the  first  train  ran  in  to  that  station. 
Mr.  Elkins  passed  away  a  few  days 
later.  By  request  of  the  directors, 
Mr.  James  M.  Whiton,  who  had  since 
the  road  was  chartered,  served  on  the 
board  of  directors,  was  appointed  to 
assume  the  superintendence  of  the 
road  pro  tern  and  held  the  position 
for  a  number  of  years. 


In  1854  the  road  owned  fourteen 
first-class  engines  and  the  operation 
of  the  trains  was  being  carried  on 
with  promptitude  and  dispatch. 
Twelve  of  the  locomotives  were  made 
by  the  Boston  Locomotive  Works, 
one  by  the  Globe  Works,  at  South 
Boston,  and  one  was  constructed  in 
the  railroads’  own  shops  at  Lake  Vil¬ 
lage.  Besides  these  fourteen  loco¬ 
motives  there  were  ten  long  passen¬ 
ger  cars,  and  about  four  hundred  and 
fifty  freight  cars. 


Accidents  were  few  and  far  between 
in  early  days  and  this  fact  was  a 
matter  of  gratification  to  the  railroad 
people  as  well  as  the  public  in  gen¬ 
eral.  In  the  winter  of  1853  a  freight 
conductor  was  considerably  injured 
by  the  displacement  of  timber  on  a 
freight  car  in  the  month  of  January. 
Another  accident  which  was  un¬ 
avoidable  on  the  part  of  the  train 
crew  is  told  of  a  person  said  to  have 
been  intoxicated  who  lay  down  on  the 
track  near  Lake  Village  one  evening 
of  the  same  year  as  mentioned  above, 
and  was  run  over  in  the  darkness  by 
a  freight  train  and  so  much  injured 
that  he  survived  but  a  few  hours. 
The  freight  conductor  mentioned 
above  was  W.  B.  Douglas,  who  was 
on  one  of  his  trips,  in  Northfield  was 


9 

struck  by  a  stick  of  timber  by  some 
means  working  loose,  carried  off  the 
top  of  the  saloon  car,  and  broke 
both  of  Mr.  Douglas’  legs.  Mr.  Doug¬ 
las  afterwards  recovered  and  was 
made  station  agent  at  Woodsville 
In  March  of  that  same  year  George 
Randall,  (nicknamed  Bobbie)  fire¬ 
man,  in  attempting  to  leap  from  an 
engine  at  Lake  Village,  struck  the 
ice  and  fractured  his  thigh.  Randall 
recovered,  and  for  many  years  ran  a 
locomotive  between  Woodsville  and 
Concord.  He  was  said  to  be  one  of 
the  most  faithful  employes  the  road 
ever  had. 


Here  follows  some  facts  with  ref¬ 
erence  to  locomotives  owned  by 

the  road  in  1854  which  have  never 
before  appeared  in  any  newspaper  or 
history,  and  published  in  this  vol¬ 
ume  that  future  generations  may 
realize  in  a  measure  the  appearance 
of  the  early  wood  burning  engines. 

The  Old  Man  of  the  Mountain,  was 
a  passenger  engine  with  four  drivers 
5y2  feet  high,  and  weighed  22  tons. 

Lady  of  the  Lake,  was  the  same 
weight  but  her  drivers  were  six  inch¬ 
es  smaller.  Both  the  above  machines 
were  inside  connections. 

Granite  State  was  a  freight  engine 
with  four  and  a  half  foot  drivers,  and 
outside  connections.  Her  weight  was 
23  tons. 

McDuffee  was  the  same  size  and 
weight.  Likewise  she  was  a  freight 
engine. 

Old  Crawford  was  a  passenger  en¬ 
gine  with  five  and  a  half  foot  drivers. 
She  weighed  22  tons  and  her  connec¬ 
tions  were  inside. 

Josiah  Quincy  weighed  23  tons  with 
the  same  size  drivers  and  likewise  in¬ 
side  connections. 

Peter  Clark  was  the  same  size  in 
every  way,  but  was  used  'as  a  freight 
engine  most  of  the  time. 

Moosilauke  had  5  foot  drivers,  and 
weighed  24  tons. 


I 


10 

James  N.  Elkins  was  a  23  ton  pas¬ 
senger  machine,  with  66  inch  drivers. 

Winnepesaukee  was  a  freighter  of 
24  tons  and  5  foot  drivers. 

Pehaungun  was  the  same  size, 
weight  and  almost  identically  the 
same  pattern  as  the  “Winnie”,  as  the 
boys  used  to  call  her. 

Ahquedauken,  a  passenger  machine 
of  22  tons,  and  66  inch  drivers  and 
inside  connections.  All  the  above 
machines  had  four  drivers. 

Pony  was  a  light  gravel  engine, 
having  only  four  wheels,  those  4y2 
feet  high,  and  she  weighed  only  14 
tons. 

Paugus  was  a  gravel  engine  of  the 
same  size,  but  weighed  four  ton  more 
'than  the  Pony.  She  likewise  was  a 
four  wheeler,  and  those  four  wheels 
were  the  drivers,  which  were  only  4% 
feet  high.  The  Paugus  was  built  in 
the  company’s  shops  at  Lakeport. 

During  the  year  1855  another  mach¬ 
ine  was  built  at  the  company’s  shops 
at  Lakeport;  'this  locomotive  was 
named  the  Chocorua,  with  outside 
connections,  five  and  a  half  foot 
drivers,  and  weighed  23  tons. 

Joseph  A.  Dodge  was  appointed  as 
general  freight  agent  in  the  spring  of 
1852,  and  superintendent  in  1860,  and 
general  manager  on  the  death  of 
John  E.  Lyon.  In  his  young  days  he 
commenced  work  on  his  father’s  farm 
summers  and  teaching  winters.  Be¬ 
coming  dissatisfied  with  this  method 
of  obtaining  a  livelihood,  he  went  to 
Boston  and  commenced  railroading 
on  the  Boston  &  Lowell  as  shipping 
clerk  in  the  freight  depot  under  the 
venerable  R.  Sherburne,  who  was  at 
that  time  master  of  transportation 
When  the  B.  C.  &  M.  road  opened  up 
Mr.  Sherburne  was  appointed  freight 
agent  of  the  road.  He  sent  Mr.  Dodge 
up  as  station  agent  at  Sanbornton 
Bridge  (now  Tilton).  When  the  road 
was  completed  to  Lake  Village,  Mr. 
Dodge  moved  up  and  took  charge  of 


that  station,  and  also  broke  in  agents 
at  intermediate  stations.  When  the 
road  reached  Meredith  Village,  Mr. 
Dodge  moved  up  and  managed  that 
station.  In  January,  1850,  the  rails 
were  laid  to  Plymouth  and  Mr. 
Dodge  was  again  moved  up  the  line 
and  took  charge  of  that  station.  He 
remained  as  a  citizen  of  that  town  up 
to  the  time  of  his  death.  It  was 
largely  owing  to  the  untiring  ener¬ 
gies  of  Mr.  Dodge  that  the  Boston, 
Concord  &  Montreal  Railroad  and  its 
branches  enjoyed  the  prosperity  they 
did  at  the  time  of  being  taken  over 
by  the  Boston  &  Lowell,  soon  after 
by  the  Concord  Road  and  later  by  the 
Boston  &  Maine. 

Mr.  Dodge  died  at  the  age  of  75 
years,  leaving  an  estate  of  $100,000. 


To  connect  the  country  farther 
north  with  the  outside  world  the 
White  Mountain  Railroad  was  char¬ 
tered  in  December,  1848,  and  opened 
from  Woodsville  to  Littleton  in  1853. 
In  1858,  by  authority  of  an  act  of  the 
legislature,  the  White  Mountain  Rail¬ 
road  was  sold  at  auction  for  $24,000 
and  debts.  It  was  bid  off  by  mort¬ 
gage  holders,  who  organized  a  new 
company  under  the  name  of  the 
White  Mountain  N.  H.  Railroad. 
This  road  was  at  once  leased  to  the 
Boston,  Concord  &  Montreal  for  five 
years  at  a  rental  of  $10,000  per  year. 
The  rental  was  increased  to  $12,000 
in  1864  and  the  lease  extended  twenty 
years. 

In  1869  the  construction  of  an  ex¬ 
tension  of  the  White  Mountain  Rail¬ 
road  beyond  Littleton  was  under¬ 
taken,  and  in  1872  the  track  from 
Wing  Road  towards  the  base  of  Mt. 
Washington  was  begun.  In  1877  the 
original  White  Mountain  Railroad 
between  Woodsville  and  Littleton 
was  taken  over  by  the  Boston,  Con¬ 
cord  &  Montreal,  by  exchanging 
$300,000  6%  bonds  for  the  capital 
stock  of  the  reorganized  road. 


11 


In  1880  the  extension  to  Groveton 
was  completed,  and  in  1883  the  con¬ 
struction  account  of  the  line  from 
Wing  Road  to  the  base  of  Mt.  Wash¬ 
ington  was  closed  at  $446,000. 

With  the  building  of  the  Boston, 
Concord  &  Montreal  Railroad  from 
Concord  to  Groveton  Junction,  145.45 
miles  there  was  encountered  much 
opposition  by  the  Northern  Railroad 
and  experienced  great  financial  dif¬ 
ficulties  in  carrying  forward  the 
work.  A  heavy  floating  debt  was  in¬ 
curred  on  which  excessive  rates  of 
interest  were  paid  and  some  secur¬ 
ities  were  sold  at  less  than  par  to 
obtain  money  to  carry  on  the  work. 
The  construction  account  was  closed 
in  1856  and  the  property  account 
then  stood  at  $3,045,226.67.  The  road 
was  in  the  hands  of  trustees  in  1857- 
8-9  and  was  turned  back  to  the 
stockholders  in  improved  financial 
condition,  but  no  dividend  was  de¬ 
clared  until  1867.  From  that  date  to 
1885,  6%  was  paid  on  the  preferred 
stock. 


A  few  words  with  reference  to  the 
present  day  branches  of  the  old  B.  C. 
&  M.,  will  be  of  interest  to  the  old 
time  railroad  men  as  well  as  of  his¬ 
toric  value. 

Whitefield  &  Jefferson  Railroad. 

This  is  a  single  track  line  from 
Whitefield  to  Berlin,  30.58  miles. 

The  line  from  Whitefield  to  Jeffer¬ 
son,  10.68  miles,  was  chartered  in 
1878  and  completed  in  1879.  This 
road  had  existed  to  some  extent  for 
some  time  as  a  lumber  road,  and  was 
owned  jointly  by  the  Brown  Lumber 
Company,  and  the  Boston,  Concord 
&  Montreal  Railroad.  The  original 
cost  is  placed  at  $100,000.  Many  im¬ 
provements  were  made  in  the  road, 
including  the  substitution  of  steel 
for  iron  rails  in  1881-2-3,  and  the 
cost  of  the  road  and  equipment  in 
1888  is  given  as  $189,504,  capital 
stock  $200,000. 


In  1889  the  Concord  &  Montreal 
bought  the  one  thousand  shares  of 
the  Brown  Lumber  Company  for 
$100,000  and  thus  became  the  sole 
owner  of  the  road.  The  extension  to 

Berlin  was  begun  in  1890  and  com¬ 
pleted  in  1893  at  a  cost  of  about 

$617,000.  In  1892  a  branch  was  built 
from  Jefferson  Meadows  to  the 
Waumbek  House,  3.48  miles. 

Profile  &  Franconia  Notch  Rail¬ 
road  runs  from  Bethlehem  Junction 
to  Profile  House,  and  Bethlehem,  10 
and  3.33  miles  respectively.,  The 
line  to  the  Profile  House  was  char¬ 
tered  in  1879.  It  was  built  for  sum¬ 
mer  travel  and  the  guage  was  three 
feet.  The  branch  to  Bethlehem  was 
completed  in  1882.  This  was  also 
narrow  guage.  About  the  year  1900 
this  road  was  re  laid  to  broad  or 
standard  guage. 

Pemigewasset  Talley  Railroad. 

This  is  a  single  track  line  from 
Plymouth  to  Lincoln,  22.93  miles. 

The  original  charter  for  the  line 
to  North  Woodstock  was  granted  in 
1874,  and  the  road  was  opened  in 
1883.  The  cost  of  the  road  and 
equipment  was  $529,585.  In  1895 
the  road  was  extended  to  Lincoln, 
and  in  1896  the  cost  of  the  road  and 
equipment  was  $541,262.  The  cost 
to  date  is  $581,860. 

This  road  was  leased  to  the  Con¬ 
cord  &  Montreal  Railroad  on  com¬ 
pletion,  at  6%  on  its  cost,  for  the 
term  of  ninety-nine  years  from  1883. 

Tilton  &  Belmont  Railroad. 

This  is  a  single  track  line  from 
Belmont  Junction  to  Belmont,  4.17 
miles.  This  line  was  opened  in  1888 
and  the  472  shares  of  stock  issued 
were  all  bought  by  the  Concord  & 
Montreal  Railroad  for  $48,550. 

Franklin  &  Tilton  Railroad. 

This  is  a  single  track  line  from 
Franklin  to  Tilton,  4.95  miles. 


12 


The  line  was  built  in  1890  at  the 
joint  expense  of  the  Northern  and 
Concord  &  Montreal  Railroads.  The 
original  cost  was  $245,708,  which  had 
been  increased  to  $268,249  in  1911. 
It  was  operated  by  the  Concord  & 
Montreal  Railroad,  to  which  it  was 
leased  in  1895  for  the  term  of  ninety- 
one  years,  at  the  nominal  rental  of 
$1  annually,  with  such  additional 
sums  as  may  be  necessary  to  keep  up 
the  organization  of  the  lessor.  On 
the  same  date  this  lease  was  assigned 
to  the  Boston  &  Maine  Railroad.  In 
referring  to  the  building  of  this  line 
the  report  of  the  railroad  commis¬ 
sioners  in  1891  says:  “We  know  of 
no  other  case  in  which  so  much  mon¬ 
ey  has  been  spent  to  so  little  pur¬ 
pose  in  a  railroad  project.”  Con¬ 
ditions  are  now  improved  and  the 
road  appears  to  be  doing  a  consider¬ 
able  business. 


Having  dwelt  at  some  length  on 
the  building  of  the  old  road,  in  jus¬ 
tice  to  those  who  helped  to  make 
railroad  history  on  the  Boston,  Con¬ 
cord  and  Montreal  thirty  to  fifty 
years  ago  it  is  but  fitting  that  at  least 
mention  be  made  of  the  good  and 
faithful  men  of  those  early  times. 

First  I  will  mention  Ed  Sanborn. 
Mr.  Sanborn  was  not  the  oldest  man 
on  the  road  by  any  means,  but  the 
writer  has  fond  recollections  of  him, 
and  there  certainly  was  but  one  Ed 
Sanborn.  In  the  Warren  News  of 
December  27th,  1918  there  appeared 
the  following: 

Word  has  been  received  that  Ed 
Sanborn  was  killed  in  a  head-on  col¬ 
lision  of  two  trains  last  Monday, 
(Dec.  23)  at  McCrook,  Nebraska. 
He  was  an  engineer  on  one  of  the 
fastest  expresses  in  the  west  with 
headquarters  at  Lincoln,  Neb.  Ed 
Sanborn  will  be  remembered  by  old¬ 
er  people  hereabouts  up  and  down 
the  line,  as  thirty-five  years  ago  in 
the  old  Boston,  Concord  &  Montreal 


days  he  used  to  run  a  way  freight  be¬ 
tween  Boston  and  Woodsville  as  con¬ 
ductor.  He  later  went  west  and  se¬ 
cured  a  railroad  job  and  soon  after 
there  was  a  general  strike  of  loco¬ 
motive  engineers  on  the  Chicago, 
Burlington  &  Quincy;  Sanborn  hav¬ 
ing  had  more  or  less  experience  here 
in  the  east  with  the  old  wood  burn¬ 
ers  claimed  he  could  run  a  locomo¬ 
tive  and  was  given  a  chance,  made 
good,  and  for  more  than  twenty-five 
years  he  run-  a  locomotive  on  the  C. 
B.  &  Q.  A  little  while  after  Sanborn 
went  west  it  was  his  good  fortune  to 
buy  some  real  estate  at  a  nominal 
price  at  a  certain  point  on  a  prairie 
on  his  run.  Later  someone  needed 
a  side  track  there;  it  was  built  and 
known  as  Sanborn’s  Siding;  time 
went  on  and  a  flag  station  was  built 
there.  Engineer  Sanborn  bought 
more  real  estate  thereabouts  and  a 
hamlet  grew  up  in  the  vicinity. 
Sanborn  invested  more,  built  a  block 
as  the  town  grew,  and  today  if  you 
look  at  a  map  of  the  state  of  Nebras¬ 
ka,  follow  the  Chicago,  Burlington  & 
Quincy  Railroad  out  some  forty 
miles  from  Lincoln,  you  will  find  the 
thriving  town  of  Sanborn,  named  for 
Ed  Sanborn,  one  of  the  old  time 
Boston,  Concord  &  Montreal  con¬ 
ductors. 

The  following  week  there  came 
from  Ex-Supt.  George  E.  Cummings, 
Woodsville,  an  interesting  letter  with 
reference  to  the  early  days  of  the 

road.  This  letter  and  quite  a  few 

others  were  published  in  Warren 

News  from  time  to  time,  and  for  their 
historical  value  follow  that  of  Mr. 
Cummings’: 

Friend  Caswell: 

We  read  with  interest  the  news  of 
the  death  of  Ed  Sanborn  in  the  War¬ 
ren  News  of  Dec.  27th,  which  you  so 
kindly  sent.  Reading  the  article 

brings  to  mind  the  old  B.  C.  &  M. 
and  the  many  changes  that  have 
occurred  in  the  fifty  years  we  have 


been  a  part  of  the  working  force. 
We  recall  but  one  employee  of  the 
White  Mountain,,  division  of  fifty 
years  ago  now  living,  and  that  is 
George  Hutchins.  Hutchins  left  the 
B.  C.  &  M.  to  work  for  the  White- 
field  &  Jefferson  road,  coming  back 
a  few  years  later  when  that  road  was 
leased  and  turned  over  to  the  Bos¬ 
ton  &  Lowell. 

Who  now  remember  the  old  days 
when  Warren  was  the  principal  sta¬ 
tion  north  of  Lakeport;  the  days 
when  all  freight  trains  took  wood 
and  water  there?  Then  Arthur  Knapp 
had  hundreds  of  men  and  scores  of 
teams  constantly  in  the  wood,  lum¬ 
ber  and  bark  business.  Mrs.  Knapp 
was  the  best  cook  in  the  country  and 
besides  feeding  her  own  family  pnd 
help,  was  always  ready  to  give  the 
trainmen  a  good  meal.  Morrill 
Sanborn  was  station  agent  and  he 
had  to  go  up  to  Jerry  Jewett’s  store 
to  telegraph.  Then  Sam  Hoitt  mend¬ 
ed  rails  in  the  old  engine  house 
which  was  later  moved  across  the 
track  and  is  now  the  freight  depot. 
Dave  Marsh  kept  the  hotel  and  fur¬ 
nished  food *to  travelers  and  drink  to 
all  who  had  the  cash  to  pay  for  it. 
John  Butler  run  the  stock  train,  Bill 
Rollins  and  Dave  Fergurson  the  pas¬ 
senger  trains.  George  Eastman,  fat 
and  jolly,  with  Bill  Kimball  who  al¬ 
ways  “got  there”  for  years  with  what 
was  known  as  Eastman’s  train.  Far¬ 
rar,  the  way  freight  conductor  had  a 
sign  on  his  caboose  door  indicating 
that  he  also  dealt  in  butter  and  eggs 
for  the  Boston  market. 

In  those  days  the  offices  were  in 
Plymouth,  Mr.  J.  A.  Dodge  was  in 
command,  with  Jim^  Rogers,  Will 
Brackett  and  Charles  Whittier  to 
help  him.  Those  were  happy  days; 
but  all  these  have  joined  the  innum¬ 
erable  caravan  which  moves  to  that 
mysterious  realm  where  each  shall 


take  his  chamber  in  the  silent  halls 
of  death. 

With  all  the  compliments  of  the 
season, 

Yours  truly, 

G.  E.  CUMMINGS. 

Woodsville,  Dec.  30,  1918. 

The  following  communication  writ¬ 
ten  by  Mrs.  White  of  Wentworth,  a 
lady  between  eighty  and  ninety  years 
old,  will  interest  many  and  is  quite  re¬ 
markable  for  one  in  her  advanced 
years. 

Editor  News: 

I  was  much  interested  in  the  Mr. 
G.  E.  Cummings’  article  in  the  News 
last  week.  It  brought  to  my  mind 
an  instance  when  Ed  Sanborn  was 
conductor  in  the  old  B.  C.  &  M.  days. 
Trains  were  few  and  only  one  pas¬ 
senger  train  a  day,  so  it  was  quite 
convenient  to  ride  on  a  freight  now¬ 
and-then  for  the  rules  were  not  as 
strict  in  those  times  as  now.  On  this 
particular  occasion  Ed  Sanborn  was 
conductor,  Frank  Johnson,  brakeman, 
John  Marsh,  Sr.,  engineer,  and  Geo. 
Sherwell,  fireman  on  a  certain 
freight.  It  was  nearly  fifty  years 
ago  when  one  day  I  was  called  to 
Concord  by  the  illness  of  a  lady  who 
was  engaged  to  marry  George  Sher¬ 
well  the  fireman  of  the  freight.  Sa¬ 
rah  Morey  of  Orford  accompanied 
me,  day  was  cold  and  freight  late. 
To  make  matters  worse  some  of  the 
pipes  about  the  engine  froze,  water 
got  low  and  they  had  to  melt  snow 
to  continue  the  trip.  At  Lakeport 
(then  Lake  Village)  conditions  were 
somewhat  improved,  but  we  nearly 
froze,  the  caboose  was  so  cold.  I 
recollect  Mr.  Sanborn  gave  us  his 
bunk  and  we  went  to  bed  to  keep 
warm.  At  5.30  the  next  morning  we 
arrived  at  Concord — twelve  hours 
ride  from  Warren. 

The  lady  I  went  to  Concord  to  care 
for  recovered  and  was  afterwards 
married  to  George  Sherwell.  The 


14 


Sherwell  family  and  myself  are  the 
only  ones  now  living  who  recollect 
that  trip. 

Mr.  Cummings  mentioned  John 
Butler.  I  knew  him  well  and  was 
on  the  train  by  which  he  was  killed 
about  forty  years  ago.  He  caught 
his  foot  in  a  “frog’'  and  was  unable 
to  extricate  himself,  the  train  bore 
down  upon  him  cutting  off  both  legs 
and  he  died  soon  after. 

MRS.  C.  D.  WHITE. 
Wentworth,  N.  H.,  Jan.  5,  1919. 


Since  considerable  is  being  said 
wiith  reference  to  the  old  Boston, 
Concord  &  Montreal  days,  when  rail¬ 
roading  was  carried  on  vastly  dif¬ 
ferent  from  today,  and  as  Mr.  Cum¬ 
mings  recently  made  reference  in  his 
communication  to  ‘‘the  old  wood 
burners”,  the  writer’s  mind  reverts 
back  a  few  years  at  least;  forty  or 
more,  when  the  railroad  men  whom 
Mr.  Cummings  mentioned  were  in 
their  prime  and  doing  their  bit 
towards  developing  the  north  coun¬ 
try  and  making  railroad  history  in 
the  White  Mountains. 

Many  of  the  older  people  look  back 
with  interest  to  the  locomotives  of 
their  youthful  days,  brilliant  with 
gay  color  and  shining  brass  and  each 
with  a  name.  Every  engineer  then 
had  his  locomotive  all  to  himself. 
Nobody  else  used  it.  It  was  the  en¬ 
gineer’s  own  and  he  took  great  pride 
in  it  and  its  appearance.  In  those 
early  days  of  the  B.  C.  &  M.,  its 
power  equipment  consisted  of  about 
a  dozen  locomotives  at  first,  and 
others  were  purchased  as  time  went 
on  and  business  increased.  These 
additions  continued  from  time  to 
time  until  the  road  was  taken  over 
by  the  Boston  &  Lowell  in  the  early 
80s.  The  early  wood  burners  were 
insignificant  contraptions  compared 
with  the  present  day  locomotive,  as 
much  so  as  the  first  automobile  was 
a  contrast  from  a  Pierce-Arrow  or 
Packard  of  the  automobile  creation 


of  today.  The  locomotives  each  bore 
a  name  and  number,  the  latter  be¬ 
ing  on  a  round  disc  on  the  smoke 
oven  front  of  the  boiler  and  on  the 
rear  of  the  tender.  The  former  was 
artistically  painted  on  the  sides  be¬ 
neath  the  windows  of  the  cab. 

When  a  lad  the  writer  used  to  take 
pride  in  being  able  to  repeat  from 
memory  the  names  and  numbers  of 
each  locomotive  on  the  entire  sys¬ 
tem;  but  forty  years  or  more  has 
practically  blotted  from  memory  the 
number  of  each  with  the  exception 
of  possibly  half  a  dozen,  while  the 
names  have  always  remained  with 
us. 

Here  is  a  list  of  the  old  wood 
burners  as  we  remember  them: 
Granite  State,  McDuffee,  Lady  of  the 
Lake,  Crawford,  Peter  Clark,  Pau- 
gus,  Winnipesaukee,  Pehaungun,  J. 
N.  Elkins,  Ahqueduken,  Littleton, 
Chocorua,  Belknap,  Laconia,  Moosi- 
lauke,  \Ftanconia,  Lancaster,  Ply¬ 
mouth,  Ammonoosuc,  Carrol,  Gilford, 
Coos,  Northumberland,  Tilton,  Fab- 
yan,  Profile,  Stranger,  Tip-Top,  Mt. 
Washington,  Ashland,  Bethlehem, 
Lisbon.  In  early  history  of  the  road 
there  was  Mountain  Maid,  Josiah 
Quincy,  Jennie  Lind  and  Old  Man  of 
the  Mountain,  mention  of  which  is 
made  elsewhere. 

Later  there  were  Warren,  Haver¬ 
hill,  Campton,  Thornton,  Northfield, 
Canterbury,  Wentworth.  These  last 
machines  if  my  memory  serves  me 
correctly  were  purchased  by  the  Bos¬ 
ton  &  Lowell,  and  were  not  all  wood 
burners,  possibly  with  one  exception, 
the  Warren.  There  were  also  sev¬ 
eral  machines  taken  over  from  the 
Brown’s  Lumber  Company  with  the 
Whitefield  &  Jefferson  Road,  among 
them  being  Star  King,  Kilkenny, 
Waumbek  and  one  or  two  others. 

Captain  and  Triumph  were  two 
machines  put  into  commission  by  the 
Boston  &  Lowell.  Soon  after,  the 
names  were  removed  and  numbers 
substituted.  The  old  “tubs”  lost 


their  identity  and  one  by  one  went 
to  the  scrap  heap. 

As  the  years  came  and  went  wood 
became  scarce  and  two  of  these  lo¬ 
comotives  were  changed  from  wood 
to  coal  burners,  as  an  experiment. 
These  machines  were  the  Warren 
and  Haverhill.  The  change  proved 
very  unsatisfactory  for  the  fact  that 
maintaining  steam  with  coal  re¬ 
quired  greater  skill  than  with  a  wood 
fire  and  experienced  coal  firemen 
were  not  available,  and  after  a  few 
months  the  grates  were  changed 
back  for  wood.  A  year  or  two  later 
however  more  modern  methods  were 
adopted  and  eventually  all  the  en¬ 
gines  were  remodeled  to  coal  burn¬ 
ers  and  the  obsolete  wood  burning 
locomotive  was  no  more. 

The  exhaust  of  the  “old  timers” 
was  uneven  and  appeared  to  say  as 
they  laboriously  climbed  the  hills, 
“catch-a-nigger,  cateh-a-n  i  g  g  e  r, 
catch-a-nigger;”  or  in  more  modern 
terms,  “fish-and-tater,  fish-and-tater, 
fish-and-tater.”  Only  the  passenger 
engines  were  equipped  with  air 
brakes;  the  freight  engines  had  to 
depend  on  the  hand  tender  brakes  to 
bring  the  machine  to  a  stop  when 
the  steam  was  shut  off.  The  War¬ 
ren,  Haverhill  and  Wentworth  were 
bought  and  put  into  service  at  prac¬ 
tically  the  same  time.  When  the 
Warren  made  its  first  trip  north  a 
stop  was  made  here  and  Mrs.  Knapp 
placed  an  elegant  bouquet  on  the 
flag  staff  on  the  pilot.  The  Tilton, 
Tip-Top,  Coos,  Carrol  and  Elkins 
were  built  for  passenger  service  with 
unusually  large  driving  wheels  and 
designed  for  speed.  Any  of  these 
could  attain  far  greater  momentum 
than  the  freight  engines  and  were 
used  almost  exclusively  for  passen¬ 
ger  work  and  could  accomplish  but 
little  in  the  handling  of  freights  on 
the  hills. 

One  of  these  machines  once  made 
a  quick  run,  rushing  a  doctor  from 
Concord  to  Woodsville  in  record 


15 

time.  It  was  a  case  of  life  and 
death.  The  line  was  cleared  and 
the  engineer  given  orders  to  “get 
there”,  which  he  did!  Never  before 
or  since  has  a  locomotive  made  the 
same  run  as  quickly  as  that  trip  was 
made,  and  that  without  a  mishap. 

It  appears  many  of  the  locomotives 
were  named  for  towns  and  mountains 
along  the  line. 

Many  of  the  engineers  of  those 
early  days,  like  most  of  the  other 
railroad  fellows,  were  “characters”, 
and  had  their  own  individual  pecu¬ 
liarities.  There  was  uncle  John 
Marsh,  who  drew  freight  for  many 
years  between  Woodsville  and  Con¬ 
cord  who  probably  had  as  many  if 
not  more  friends  along  the  line  than 
any  other  trainman  of  early  times. 
Uncle  John  was  a  typical  Yankee,  a 
good  man  and  a  devout  Christian.  A 
friend  of  his,  John  Hook,  at  Concord 
claimed  he  felt  to  pray  for  uncle 
John  on  one  of  his  trips  in  particu¬ 
lar— he  prayed.  John  Marsh  that 
day  was  in  one  of  the  worst  railroad 
wrecks  that  had  up  to  that  time  ever 
taken  place  on  the  road  and  came 
through  it  without  a  single  scratch. 
Two  locomotives  were  demolished — 
the  Moosilauke  and  Franconia — and 
a  greater  portion  of  the  train  he  was 
drawing  was  smashed  to  kindling 
wood.  This  accident  was  unavoid¬ 
able  and  the  circumstances  made  a 
marked  and  lasting  impression  in  the 
lives  of  many  of  the  trainmen,  and 
the  life  and  example  of  Uncle  John 
Marsh]  remains  after  nearly  fifty 
years  even  to  the  present  day. 

Then  there  was  another  engineer, 
whose  name  we  will  not  mention, 
who  one  time  thought  the  boiler  was 
about  to  “blow  up”  jumped,  desert¬ 
ing  his  engine.  He  lost  his  job  and 
never  again  pulled  a  throttle. 

Another  man  who  has  long  since 
retired  followed  by  his  good  works 
and  an  upright  life,  on  many  a  dark 
and  stormy  night  when  his  eyes 
could  not  penetrate  the  darkness 


16 


even  along  the  running  board  to  the 
pilot  and  fifty  feet  ahead  has  made 
his  “run”  from  Woodsville  to  Con¬ 
cord  literally  riveted  to  the  foot¬ 
board  with  one  hand  on  the  reverse 
lever  and  the  other  on  “the  air”,  his 
mind  fixed  on  God  for  safety  of  the 
thousands  of  human  lives  trusted  in 
his  care;  and  many  a  time  would 
admit  to  his  associates  that  of  him¬ 
self  he  was  unable  to  withstand  the 
responsibility  without  divine  aid — 
this  was  Milo  Annis.  He  did  his 
work  well  and  lived  a  life  none 
should  be  ashamed  to  pattern. 

Another  old  timer  was  Sid  Russ, 
who  for  many  years  run  the  mail 
train.  Everybody  along  the  line 
forty  years  ago  knew  Sid  Russ.  Be¬ 
fore  the  rhilroad  was  built  he  was  a 
stage  driver  between  Boston  and 
Canada. 

Then  there  was  Dan  Foley,  who 
run  one  of  the  way  freights  opposite 
Ed  Sanborn.  Foley  was  a  jolly  good 
fellow  with  nearly  300  weight  of  ob¬ 
esity  and  carried  a  large  “bay  win¬ 
dow”  under  his  vest  front.  He  was  a 
devout  Catholic.  Uncle  Jed  Bean, 
“Ausie”  Bedean  and  “Bobbie”  Ran¬ 
dall  were  other  good  and  faithful 
men  in  whom  the  officials  had  impli¬ 
cit  confidence  and  have  not  been  “out 
of  the  harness”  very  many  years 
George  Hutchins'  well  known  to 
many  today  has  spent  nearly  half  a 
century  in  the  cab.  He  served  as 
mayor  of  the  city  of  Berlin  and 
hauled  a  passenger  train  on  the  Ber¬ 
lin  branch  during  the  term  of  his  ad¬ 
ministration. 


Below  is  an  interesting  letter  from 
George  Hutchins  of  Berlin,  who  is  the 
oldest  in  years  of  railroad  service  of 
any  employe  and  the  only  man  now 
in  the  railroad  service  who  was 
working  fifty  years  ago.  Mr.  Hutch¬ 
ins  is  interesting  to  converse  with 
on  the  subject  of  early  railroad  days 


and  “the  boys”  who  kept  things  mov¬ 
ing  fifty  years  ago. 

Friend  Caswell: 

I  was  reading  a  communication  in 
your  paper  from  G.  E.  Cummings  in 
which  he  writes  of  my  being  the  old¬ 
est  employe  on  the  White  Mountain 
Division  I  began  firing  in  June 
1866 — 52  years  ago.  Previous  to  that 
I  worked  on  a  section  about  three 
years.  The  engineers  who  were 
running  at  that  time  were  Patch 
Clifford,  Henry  Little,  Alfred  (Bogy) 
Drake  and  Ike  Sanborn  on  the  pas¬ 
senger  trains. 

The  freight  engineers  were  Geo. 
Randall,  W.  D.  Sargent,  Geo.  Eaton 
and  John  Leighton.  Charlie  Greene 
run  “Duffy”,  the  helper  at  Woodsville 
and  was  also  conductor  on  a  freight 
from  Woodsville  to  Littleton. 

Passenger  conductors  were  Sid 
Russ,  Ed  Fisher,  Bill  Rollins,  Tom 
Roby.  George  Eastman  run  what 
was  known  as  “Eastman’s  Train”, 
and  Dave  Furgerson  run  the  cattle 
train. 

Firemen  at  that  time  were  Bill 
Clement,  Wesley  Lyons,  Henry  Ran¬ 
dall,  Bert  Randall,  Bill  Kimball,  Osie 
Burdean  and  C.  M.  Burleigh. 

Freight  conductors  were  Nat 
Batchelder,  John  Butler  and  0.  R. 
Farrar. 

In  the  winter  of  ’69  and  ’70  I  run 
the  snow  plough  one  time  six  days 
and  six  nights  with  but  six  hours  of 
sleep  and  did  not  have  my  clothes 
off  during  that  time,  and  for  that 
week  I  received  $24.  To  wind  up, 
Saturday  night  I  went  to  Littleton 
and  ran  an  extra  passenger  train 
with  J.  A.  Dodge  (the  superinten¬ 
dent)  and  directors  to  Plymouth. 
Web  Stearns  was  the  conductor.  On 
returning  we  drew  the  snow  plough. 
On  the  way  Sid  Davis  (road  master) 
and  Ezra  Mann  played  a  game  of 
cards  to  see  who  should  pay  for  an 
oyster  supper  and  it  fell  to  Sid. 
They  came  over  on  an  engine  and 


asked  me  if  I  would  stop  at  Warren 
for  supper.  I  said,  “yes,  I  am  al¬ 
ways  ready  to  eat!”  We  stopped  af¬ 
ter  11  o’clock  at  night  and  went  in 
the  hotel  to  see  Dave  Marsh.  He 
said  we  could  have  the  supper,  which 
we  did,  with  plenty  to  eat  and  drink. 
Anna  Jackson  was  table  girl. 

The  general  officers  at  that  time 
were:  J.  A.  Dodge,  superintendent; 
J.  L.  Rodgers,  master  of  transporta¬ 
tion;  Ripley,  ticket  agent;  Charles 
Whittier,  pay  master.  Those  I  have 
mentioned  who  are  yet  living  are, 
Ezra  B.  Mann,  C.  M.  Burleigh,  Wes¬ 
ley  Lyons,  Bert  Randall  and  Henry 
Randall. 

I  am  still  at  work,  running  be¬ 
tween  Berlin  and  Whitefield. 

Yours  truly, 

GEO.  E.  HUTCHINS. 

Berlin,  N.  H.,  Jan.  12,  1919. 

CORRECTION— Last  line  on  page  16  should 
read:  They  came  ever  on  the  engine  and 


Ahqueduken,  Passenger,  C.  M.  Bur¬ 
leigh. 

Chocorua,  Passenger,  C.  Leonard. 
Tip-Top,  Passenger,  Berdeen  and 
Swasey. 

Ammonooisuc,  Fgt.,  Frizel  &  Onley. 
Granite  State,  Fgt.,  Ayer  &  Bean. 

Moosilauke,  Fgt.,  Whiting  &  Bean. 
McDuffe,  Shifter,  Jack  Lawler. 

Franconia,  Fgt.,  George  &  Marsh. 
Belknap,  Fgt.,  C.  F.  Sanborn. 

Laconia,  Passenger,  Isaac  Glynn. 

Stranger,  Fgt.,  Bother  &  Swain. 

Winnipesaukee,  Fgt.,  Various. 

Pehaungun,  Helper,  H.  B.  Fa  mum. 
Gilford,  Fgt.,  Kimball  &  Onley 

Tilton,  Fgt.-,  Various 

Carrol,  Passenger,  Various. 

Ashland,  Fgt.,  Wore  Dearborn. 

Littleton,  Fgt.,  M.  V.  B.  Perkins. 

Bethlehem,  Pas.,  Swain  &  Bailey 

Lisbon,  Fgt.,  Sherwell  &  Dearborn. 
Warren.  Fgt.,  Burleigh  &  Badger. 
Haverhill,  Fgt.,  C.  W.  Adams. 

*  Whitefield,  Fgt.,  Various 

*lS'tar  King,  Fgt.,  0.  D.  Parker. 


In  the  earlier  history  of  the  road 
there  were  the  following  three  loco¬ 
motives,  Josiah  Quincy,  Jennie  Lind 
and  Old  Man  of  the  Mountain,  two  of 
which  were  burned  in  a  repair  shop 
51  years  ago. 

Below  is  a  list  of  the  locomotives 


*  This  machine  was  bought  of  the 
Brown’s  Lumber  Company  40  years 
ago. 


Here  is  a  letter  from  Mr.  Cum¬ 
mings  containing  some  circumstances 
new  to  many,  even  some  of  the  old 
timers. 


and  the  engineers  in  the  summer  of 
1882 — 37  years  ago.  First  is  given 
the  name  of  the  locomotive,  service 
she  was  in  and  names  of  those  in 
charge. 

Plymouth,  Passenger,  Geo.  Pebbles. 
Lancaster,  Helper,  Annis  &  Gordon. 
I.ady.  Passenger,  J.  M.  Boynton. 
Mt.  Washington,  Passenger,  John  F. 
Marsh. 

Crawford,  Passenger,  W.  H.  Moore. 
Profile,  Passenger,  Various. 

Peter  Clark,  Passenger,  J.  Qulmby. 
Fa'bvan,  Shifter,  F.  W.  Lougee. 

Elkins,  Passenger,  W.  R.  Kimball. 
Coos.  Passenger,  Charles  Holt. 

Northumberland,  Passenger,  Geo.  B. 
Randall. 


Friend  Caswell:— Am  much  inter¬ 
ested  in  your  article  regarding  early 
dsvs  on  the  old  B.  C.  &  M.  Please 
allow  this  slight  correction  in  your 
list  of  the  old  wood  burners. 

The  first  locomotives  to  be  used 
was  the  Jenny  Lind,  then  came  the 
McDuffe  and  the  Granite  State.  I  do 
not  know  the  end  of  the  McDuffe,  but 
the  Granite  State  ended  her  work  at 
Sanborn’s  track  in’  1881  when  Nelson 
Bedell  coming  out  from  Park’s  mill 
at  Loon  Pond  run  into  Eastman’s 
train  at  the  switch,  badly  damaging 
the  Lady,  which  William  Kimball 
was  running,  and  knocking  one  side 
of  the  Granite  State  all  to  nieces  sr> 


she  was  hauled  to  the  shop  and 
scrapped. 

The  Mountain  Maid  weighed  only 
18  tons  but  did  all  the  work  north  of 
Woodsville  for  years.  Ike  Sanborn 
left  the  road  rather  than  run  her. 
She  continued  in  service  some  years 
after  he  left,  and  ended  her  days 
drawing  logs  on  the  Gale  River  rail¬ 
road  where  John  Marsh  run  her. 
After  that  road  was  thrown  up  she 
stood  for  a  year  or  more  opposite  the 
Wambek  (Mills  in  Bethlehem,  until 
one  day  Mr.  Dodge  sent  me  up  there 
to  get  her.  I  hired  a  man  with  two 
yoke  of  oxen  and  we  hauled  her  in 
the  highway  to  Bethlehem  Junction 
albout  half  a  mile,  got  her  on  the 
track  and  she  went  to  the  scrap  heap. 

After  McDuffe  came  the  Old  Man 
of  the  Mountain  and  the  Josiah  Quin¬ 
cy.  These  last  two  were  burned  in 
the  shops  at  Lake  Village  in  1860  and 
never  rebuilt. 

Clarence  Adams  was  engineer  at 
the  time  he  lost  his  foot,  and  Frank 
Congee  was  firing  for  him.  lit  was 
at  Lisbon.  We  were  out  with  a  train 
and  crew  of  men  picking  up  old  ties 
for  fuel. 

George  (Hutchins  run  the  first  en¬ 
gine  into  the  town  of  Lancaster,  and 
I  think  it  was  the  Granite  State.  His 
fireman  was  Sam  Kimball.  Bill  Clem¬ 
ent  run  the  McDuffe  as  helper  at 
Woodsville,  on  snow  plow,  etc.,  and 
Charlie  Ho  it  was  his  fireman. 

Yours, 

G.  E.  CUMMINGS. 


John  Marsh,  Jr.,  run  the  Mt. 
Washington  six  months  and  all  it 
cost  to  keep  her  in  repair  was  $1.83; 
at  the  same  time  John  Buckley  and 
Jack  Lawler  run  McDuffe  six  months 
as  shifter  and  only  $9.09  were  ex¬ 
pended  for  her  repairs. 


Old  time  railroad  men  are  very  in¬ 
teresting  in  reminiscence.  The  man 
who  worked  on  the  railroad  half  a 


18 

century  or  so  ago  has  lived  through 
substantially  the  whole  development 
of  railroading  in  this  country.  His 
experiences  go  back  to  a  time  of 
candles  or  kerosene  and  wood  stoves 
for  passenger  cars,  to  locomotives 
brilliant  with  brass  and  paint,  to  the 
time  when  trainmen  had  no  reports 
to  headquarters  to  bother  them,  and 
when  there  were  no  inter-locking 
switches,  self-coupling  cars  or  block 
signals. 


Here  follows  in  succession  two  let¬ 
ters,  neither  of  which  were  written 
by  railroad  men  bat  are  quite  inter¬ 
esting  nevertheless.  Writer  of  the 
Concord  letter  was  evidently  a  lad 
thirty  or  more  years  ago  who  at¬ 
tended  Littleton  high  school  in  those 
pioneer  days  from  up  north,  going 
to  and  from  Littleton  by  train.'  An¬ 
other  is  from  Mr.  Page,  a  Littleton 
resident  which  speaks  for  itself. 

Mr.  Rich  in  his  letter  mentions 
the  Manns  and  wonders  if  their 
father  was  not  a  railroad  man  also. 
No,  their  father  George  W.  Mann 
was  never  connected  with  the  rail¬ 
road  but  was  a  prosperous  lumber¬ 
man  and  farmer  over  in  the  little 
town  of  Benton,  quite  well  known  in 
political  and  legislative  circles  in  his 
day.  His  boys  were  however,  nat¬ 
ural-born  railroad  men.  Some  of 
the  others  mentioned  by  Mr.  Rich 
had  not  been  forgotten  or  over¬ 
looked,  but  were  coming  into  this 
article  at  some  future  time. 

Editor  News: 

Among  some  other  papers  I  found 
one  of  yours  on  early  days  of  the  B., 
C.  &  M.  R.  R.  Some  of  the  facts  are 
a  little  hazy  in  my  mind  at  this  time. 
However  wish  I  had  a  copy  of  the 
issue  before  this  and  the  following 
one.  Haven’t  the  date  of  issue  con¬ 
taining  the  article  I  have  reference 
to.  George  E.  Hutchins,  the  jovial 
engineer  and  once  mayor  of  Berlin, 


the  first  one, — I  think  his  letter  is  in 
this  issue. 

You  spoke  of  the  Star  King  and 
several  other  engines  from  Brown’s 
Lumber  Co.  Were  there  more  than 
three,  including  the  original  Dr.  Ord- 
way  with  two  drive  wheels  instead 
of  four?  Her  motion  was  like  a 
grasshopper  bobbing  along. 

Forty-five,  six  and  seven  years  ago 
scholars  from  Whitefield,  Lancaster 
and  other  stations  attended  Littleton 
high  school.  Who  were  more  inter¬ 
ested  in  railroad  men  than  the  boys 
and  girls  of  those  days?  One  old 
time  conductor  you  or  George  missed 
was  Demick  who  run  opposite  Rol¬ 
lins.  B.  C.  &  M.,  men  with  the  name 
of  only  one  of  the  Mann  family 
seems  incomplete.  What  of  George 
( Henry) k  Ed  and  all  the  others? 
Wasn’t  the  father  of  all  the  Mann’s  a 
railroad  man?  A  little  later  there 
was  George  Moulton,  George  Smith, 
Smith  U.  Clark,  “Nate”  Knights, 
“Dick”  Langdon,  Greene,  Van  Eng¬ 
lish  and  others.  On  the  Mt.  Wash¬ 
ington  branch  there  was  Ed  Judkins, 
John  Horne,  the  Randalls,  Jim 
Hirsch,  and  Sam  Butterfield.  “John¬ 
ny”  Marsh  was  engineer  on  the  Mt. 
Washington.  Henry  White  was  on 
the  P.  V. 

DONALD  RICH. 

Care  Economy  Drug  Co.,  3  Pleasant 
St.,  Extension,  Concord,  N.  H. 


Littleton,  N.  H.,  Jan.  31,  1919. 
Friend  Caswell: 

I  am  much  interested  in  this  rail¬ 
road  talk.  I  was  living  down  on 
Red  Oak  hill  a  number  of  years  be¬ 
fore  the  railroad  ever  struck  War¬ 
ren.  Mr.  Cummings  says  Jenny 
Lind  was  the  first  to  be  used.  That 
may  be  so,  but  there  was  the  first 
Peter  Clark  and  the  Pony  also. 
When  the  track  was  laid  up  to  the 
bridge  by  the  Clough  school  house  I 
used  to  sit  by  the  kitchen  window 


19 

and  see  them  throw  off  rails  and 
stringers  at  the  bridge.  When  the 
road  was  finished  to  Warren  depot 
I  was  there  with  my  father  to  see 
the  first  passenger  train  that  ever 
reached  Warren.  It  was  a  great  day 
in  the  history  of  the  old  town.  I  am 
an  old  man,  now  nearing  my  74th 
milestone,  but  I  never  shall  forget 
that  day  or  my  old  home  town  as 
long  as  I  live. 

Yours  truly, 

A.  T.  PAGE. 


The  following  letter  from  Frank 
Lougee  is  full  of  interest  from  start 
to  finish  and  will  be  eagerly  read. 

My  dear  friend  Caswell: 

I  wish  to  acknowledge'  receipt  of 
the  two  papers  you  sent  me  on  my 
arrival  home  last  night.  I  have  been 
very  much  interested  in  your  articles 
of  the  old  Boston,  Concord  and  Mon¬ 
treal  days.  There  are  only  a  few 
of  us  left  to  tell  what  happened  in 
those  days.  I  think  some  of  us 
would  not  like  to  have  put  in  print 
some  things  that  happened  back 
there  in  those  days. 

I  noted  in  one  of  your  issues  you 
spoke  of  Joe  Ayer,  known  as  “Hook¬ 
er”.  Mr.  Ayer  is  still  alive  and  liv¬ 
ing  on  his  farm  about  two  miles  out 
from  Lakeport,  and  while  his  hair 
has  turned  very  grey  he  is  the  same 
old  “Hooker.”  He  steps  off  like  a 
boy  of  20  and  yet  he  is  78  years  old; 
my  last  firing  was  for  him  on  the 
way  freight  between  Lakeport  and 
Woodsville.  I  also  notice  you  have 
not  made  mention  of  W.  D.  Sargent. 
Mr.  Sargent  was  one  of  the  first  en¬ 
gineers.  He  run  the  local  freight 
between  Lakeport  and  Woodsville  a 
good  many  years  and  his  last  run¬ 
ning  was  the  White  Mountain  ex¬ 
press  between  Concord  and  Woods¬ 
ville.  The  last  twenty  years  he  was 
round-house  foreman  at  Woodsville. 
I  also  notice  that  Seth  Greenleaf’s 


name  has  not  been  mentioned.  Mr. 
Greenleaf  run  the  mail  train  a  good 
many  years  and  wound  up  his  ser¬ 
vice  as  agent  at  Fabyan.  In  regard 
to  the  old  Granite  State  that  Mr. 
Cummings  speaks  of:  That  was  in  a 
wreck  with  the  Eastman  train  at 
Sanborn  track.  This  engine  was 
taken  to  Lakeport  and  cut  up  for 
scrap.  We  had  an  engine  named  the 
Marshfield  which  was  bought  for  the 
Montpelier  and  Wells  River  road  but 
was  never  assigned  to  that  road. 
This  engine  took  the  name  of  Gran¬ 
ite  State  and  is  the  engine  that  was 
in  the  wreck  at  North  Haverhill  when 
Conductor  Stone  was  killed.  Fred 
S.  Whiting  was  running  the  Granite 
State  at  that  time.  The  Peter  Clark, 
Paugus,  Pehaungun  and  Chocorua 
were  cut  up  back  of  the  engine  house 
at  Lakeport  and  put  into  scrap.  I 
was  the  last  man  to  run  the  old  Pe¬ 
ter  Clark.  I  have  a  picture  of  this 
engine  taken  at  Plymouth  when  she 
had  the  old  drop  hook  that  was  in 
use  before  the  link  motion  came  in¬ 
to  play.  I  have  also  a  picture  of  the 
Winnipesaukee.  If  you  would  like 
these  pictures  to  put  in  your  paper 
I  would  gladly  loan  them  to  you.  In 
1876  they  built  the  road  between 
Fabyan  and  Base  of  Mt.  Washington. 
I  was  firing  for  John  Swain  at  that 
time.  There  were  four  engines  do¬ 
ing  the  work — the  Belknap,  Pehaun¬ 
gun,  Winnipesaukee  and  Paugus. 
We  had  the  Pehaungun  and  this  was 
the  first  engine  that  run  a  passenger 
train  over  that  road.  Dr.  Ordway’s 
party  from  Lowell.  We  had  only 
one  car  and  that  was  all  this  locomo¬ 
tive  could  handle.  Mr.  John  E.  Ly¬ 
on  and  Mr.  J.  A.  Dodge  were  riding 
on  the  engine  at  that  time.  They 
had  a  new  engine  built  named  Mt. 
Washington  to  run  on  this  road  and 
when  they  opened  it  up  in  July  this 
engine  was  put  onto  the  train;  Geo. 

A.  Ferguson  was  engineer  and  John 
F.  Marsh,  fireman.  They  run  this 


20 

engine  in  the  summer  months  and  in 
the  winter  it  was  taken  to  Lakeport 
(then  Lake  Village)  and  stored  on 
account  of  being  too  heavy  to  run  on 
the  main  line.  If  this  engine  was 
here  today  it  would  be  stored  on  ac¬ 
count  of  being  so  light  it  could  not 
handle  the  trains.  In  one  of  your 
issues  you  say  that  the  shops  at 
Lakeport  were  burned  in  1860.  This 
is  a  mistake  as  the  shops  were 
burned  January  31,  1857.  This  was 
a  very  cold  night,  15  below  zero.  I 
was  not  there  as  I  came  into  this 
world  four  days  after  this  fire,  but  I 
have  often  heard  my  father  tell  about 
it  as  he  was  employed  in  the  shops 
at  that  time. 

I  wish  to  thank  you  very  much  for 
the  papers  you  sent,  and  if  you 
would  like  these  pictures  I  have L 
mentioned  will  send  them  to  you. 
Yours  very  truly, 

F.  W.  LOUGEE. 
Plymouth,  N.  H.,  Feb.  4,  1919. 

Next  is  a  letter  from  -an  old  boy 
down  beside  the  Merrimack  at  Sun- 
cook.  The  writer  of  this  letter  like 
many  a  young  fellow  of  forty  years 
ago  had  “railroad  fever”.  When  one 
of  his  chums,  Frank  White  lost  an 
arm  “making  a  hitch”  the  “fever” 
left  him  forever. 

C.  E.  Caswell:  Enclosed  find  $1.25 
for  The  News  another  year.  I  find 
these  talks  on  old  B.,  C.  &  M.  very 
interesting,  as  I  lived  beside  the  old 
track  a  good  many  years  and  knew 
most  all  of  the  train  men.  I  used  to 
know  all  the  engines  which  ran  past 
my  home,  and  could  tell  most  of 
them  by  the  sound  of  their  whistle, 
even  before  they  came  in  sight. 
The  Peter  Clark  reminds  me  of  a 
story  that  came  from  the  office  of  the 
superintendent,  J.  A.  Dodge.  An  old 
man  who  used  to  tend  the  gates  at 
the  crossing  above  Plymouth  station 


21 


went  into  the  office  one  morning  and 
said  to  Mr.  Dodge: 

With  grief  and  shame, 

I  come  to  say, 

The  Peter  Clark 
Came  down  in  the  dark 
And  took  your  gate  away. 

Mr.  Dick  Langdon,  another  old- 
time  passenger  conductor  is  living 
here  in  Pembroke;  am  well  ac¬ 
quainted  with  him.  I  have  helped  to 
“wood  up”  those  old  wood  burners  a 
good  many  times  when  we  boys  used 
to  “hang  around”  the  station.  I  re¬ 
member  the  time  Frank  White  lost 
his  arm  by  the  old  fashioned  couplers 
and  “bumpers”  at  West  Rumney.  I 
then  and  there  gave  up  the  idea  of 
being  a  brakeman  as  I  had  no  arms 
to  spare.  I  will  not  take  any  of 
your  time.  Keep  the  good  old  talk 
going. 

J.  EAMES. 

Suncook,  N.  H.,  Feb.  1919. 


Russell  T.  Bartlett,  Register  of 
Probate  for  Grafton  county  makes  a 
good  suggestion  which  if  carried  out 
no  doubt  would  be  of  interest  and 
value  to  coming  generations.  He 
writes  as  follows: 

Woodsville,  N.  H.,  Feb.  7,  1919. 
Dear  Caswell: 

It  seems  to  me  your  articles  in  The 
News  on  the  “Early  days  of  the  B.  C. 
&  M.’’  are  worthy  of  preservation, 
and  I  would  suggest  you  print  them 
in  a  pamphlet  form  if  it  can  be  done 
without  too  great  a  cost.  I  think 
there  are  many  people  that  would  be 
glad  to  avail  themselves  of  a  copy 
for  its  historical  value  if  they  had  an 
opportunity  to  do  so. 

Yours  truly 

R.  T.  BARTLETT. 


Here  comes  a  letter  from  an  “old 
timer,”  who  first  saw  daylight  at 
Meredith  Bridge  (Laconia),  and  as 


he  grew  up,  like  many  an  ambitious 
boy,  got  a  job  “firing”  an  old  wood 
burner,  ffie  soon  got  something  bet¬ 
ter  and  ever  since  has  hauled  traffic 
up  and  down  the  line  from  iMt.  Wash¬ 
ington  to  the  capital  city  with  fewer 
accidents  than  any  other  man  in  the 
service  today  with  47  years  to  his 
credit. 

Concord,  Feb.  14,  1919. 
Friend  Caswell:  — 

Your  issue  of  Feb.  14  at  hand  and 
Lougee’s  letter  noticed.  It  was 
good  reading  and  brought  to  my  at¬ 
tention  that  things  happened  in  the 
old  days  that  we  would  not  care  to 
have  put  in  print  at  this  time,  but  I 
have  one  thing  to  criticise  in  his 
letter  and  that  is  that  John  F. 
Marsh  did  not  fire  for  Ferguson  the 
first  summer  that  the  road  was 
opened  to  Base.  (Ferguson  and  I 
went  to  (Mianchester  and  received  the 
Mt.  Washington  from  Blood  Locomo¬ 
tive  works  and  fired  that  locomotive 
that  summer  between  Fabyans  and 
Base  with  Joe  Prescott  conductor 
and  Harvey  Dexter  brakeman.  I 
have  some  nice  pictures  of  the  Mt. 
Washington  taken  at  Base,  also  a 
dandy  of  the  Littleton  taken  at 
Woodsville;  also  one  of  the  Haver¬ 
hill  as  she  looked  after  being  blown 
up  at  Nashua  on  her  trial  trip  after 
being  put  through  shops  at  Concord, 
F.  A.  Clifford  engineer  and  Bean 
fireman.  Bean  jumped  into  man 
hole  in  tank  as  he  was  badly  scalded, 
and  Clifford’s  hearing  was  impaired 
from  that  day  until  his  end  came 
years  later.  In  regard  to  R.  T.  Bart¬ 
lett’s  suggestion  for  a  book  form,  no 
doubt  the  old  timers  would  take  one 
but  can’t  assure  you  if  it  would  make 
you  whole  but  we  have  to  take  a 
chance  sometimes  in  our  lives.  If 
you  could  get  these  -pictures  in  i: 
would  take  I  think  very  well. 
Would  be  glad  to  loan  them  to  you 
They  certainly  would  be  historical. 


There  was  Manus  Perkins  and  the 
old  General,  and  the  service  he  did 
with  the  old  horse  at  Woodsville 
should  not  be  forgotten.  Charlie 
Hoit  was  run  over  at  south  end  of 
passenger  station  at  Concord,  Aug. 
26,  1894,  and  lost  a  leg;  freight 

backed  down  upon  him.  Some  of  us 
have  certainly  seen  a  good  many 
changes  in  our  railroad  days,  of 
officials  and  power;  old  ties  and 
slab-wood  to  burn,  and  hand  brakes 
with  links  and  pins  for  couplings; 
but  we  got  there  just  the  same,  and 
all  were  keyed  up  to  the  minute. 
The  men  of  today  do  not  realize,  and 
some  seem  to  doubt,  what  we  went 
through  years  ago  and  pay  we  re¬ 
ceived  with  twenty-four  hours  for  a 
day,  but  we  were  a  good  happy  crowd 
of  boys. 

Yours  truly, 

F.  S.  WHITING. 


Here  appears  a  letter  from  J.  F. 
Leonard,  an  old  time  railroad  man 
who  is  now  postmaster  at  Woods¬ 
ville.  Thirty  years  ago  the  name  of 
Fred  Leonard  was  a  household  word 
up  and  down  the  line  so  popular  was 
he.  As  the  years  have  come  and 
gone  he  has  in  no  wise  lost  his  pop¬ 
ularity  and  the  people  of  Woodsville 
hold  in  high  esteem  their  genial  post¬ 
master,  and  despite  the  fact  that 
Father  Time  has  furrowed  his  brow 
and  sprinkled  his  dome  with  traces 
of  honorable  gray,  Fred  Leonard  is 
still  a  boy  with  the  rest  of  us,  with 
optimism  bred  in  the  bone  and  pro¬ 
poses  to  retain  the  elixir  of  youth 
until  he  goes  on  his  long  vacation. 


Woodsville,  N.  H.,  Feb.  14,  1919. 
My  dear  Caswell: 

I  have  read  with  much  interest 
your  articles  about  the  old  B.,  C.  & 
M.  R.  R.  I  think  Friend  Bartlett’s 
suggestion  to  have  your  articles 
printed  in  pamphlet  form  is  a  good 
one  and  if  you  do  this  you  may  set 
me  down  for  one.  Frank  Lougee  in 


this  week’s  issue  speaks  of  the  Mt. 
Washington  which  was  built  to  op- 
perate  the  trains  between  Fabyans 
and  the  Base  and  which  was  kept  in 
storage  in  the  winter.  I  recall  one 
spring  when  she  was  to  go  to  the 
Mountains  it  was  decided  to  try  the 
experiment  of  pulling  a  train  with 
her  from  Lake  Village  to  Woods¬ 
ville.  Everything  was  made  ready 
and  the  train  started  one  morning 
with  Al.  Haynes  as  conductor  and 
Geo.  Poor  and  the  writer  as  brake- 
men.  We  arrived  at  Woodsville 
around  6  p.  m.,  and  if  I  remember 
aright  had  fifty-four  cars.  This  was 
a  wonderful  train  for  those  days  and 
we  felt  rather  proud  that  we  made 
the  trip  without  mishap.  You  speak 
of  Joe  “Hooker.”  It  is  true  that  he 
used  to  put  his  feet  on  the  throttle, 
lean  back  in  his  seat  and  drop  off 
into  a  gentle  slumber  but  he  was  a 
light  sleeper  and  had  the  happy  fac¬ 
ulty  of  waking  up  at  the  right  time 
and  never  had  any  serious  trouble. 
He  used  to  carry  a  long  whip  on  the 
old  Belknap  and  whenever  she  got 
to  going  slow  on  a  hill  or  got  to 
slipping  bad  he  would  open  the  front 
window  of  the  cab  and  lean  out  and 
lash  her  with  the  whip  I  broke  be¬ 
hind  him  on  way  freight  for  some 
time  and  got  pretty  well  acquainted 
with  his  ways.  Later  I  run  way 
freight  when  we  made  the  trip  from 
Woodsville  to  Boston,  leaving  Woods¬ 
ville  at  3  p.  m.,  and  being  due  in 
Boston  at  1  a.  m.,  the  next  day.  Most 
of  the  cars  at  that  time  had  the  brake 
on  one  truck  frame  only  and  some 
of  them  had  no  brakes  and  it  was 
not  an  infrequent  occurrence  to  ride 
a  car  into  some  mill  track  with  a 
piece  of  3x4  shoved  over  the  tread  of 
the  wheel  and  under  the  frame  of 
the  car,  and  by  sitting  on  the  end  of 
the  stick  one  got  leverage  enough  to 
control  the  speed. 

Respectfully, 

J.  F.  LEONARD. 


23 


Following  is  a  letter  from  Oscar 
Drake,  ex-mayor  and  leading  citizen 
of  Manasquam,  N.  J.,  who  for  half  a 
score  of  years  has  ibeen  connected 
with  the  auditing  department  of  the 
New  York  and  Long  Branch  railroad. 
Mr.  Drake  was  born  and  raised  at 
Lake  Village,  now  Lakeport.  Thirty- 
five  years  ago  the  writer  attended  a 
district  school  one  winter,  taught  by 
Mr.  Drake,  and  his  pleasant,  genial 
and  painstaking  methods  of  impart¬ 
ing  knowledge  are  yet  fresh  in  our 
mind  and  his  efforts  will  tell  through 
time  and  eternity.  Mr.  Drake  later 
married,  moved  to  New  Jersey  and 
has  made  good.  Many  of  the  old 
time  railroad  fellows  will  remember 
him  as  a  lad. 

Manasquam,  N.  J., 
Feb.  9,  1919. 

Dear  Caswell: 

'Please  accept  my  thanks  for  the 
copy  of  Warren  News  of  January 
24th.  I  know  you  thought  the  article 
on  the  early  days  of  the  B.  O.  &  M. 
would  interest  me  and  it  surely  did. 
Most  of  those  old  locomotives  were 
familiar  to  me  in  my  boyhood  as 
they  used  to  spend  much  of  their 
time  in  the  repair  shops  at  “Lake  Vil¬ 
lage.”  I  well  remember  when  the 
Mt.  Washington  was  purchased  and 
what  a  seven  days’  wonder  it  was. 
What  a  toy  beside  the  modern  heavy 
locomotives. 

The  Alfred  Drake  mentioned  was 
my  uncle  and  I  think  the  Lancaster 
was  the  last  engine  he  ran.  He  used 
to  run  the  express  between  Concord 
and  Woodsville  and  was  stricken  with 
paralysis  when  completing  his  run  to 
Woodsville  one  day  and.  though  he 
lived  many  years  after  that,  he  was 
never  able  to  work  again. 

I  am  still  working  for  the  R.  R., 
having  been  in  the  auditing  depart¬ 
ment  of  the  N.  Y.  &  L.  B.  R.  R.  for 
the  past  ten  years. 

I  am  glad  to  know  that  you  are 
still  in  existence  and  congratulate 


you  on  the  paper  you  are  putting  out 
in  the  trying  times  we  have  been 
going  through.  1  am  still  interested 
in  the  education  of  our  young  people, 
having  served  on  the  Board  of  Edu¬ 
cation  of  this  district  for  the  past 
nine  years.  We  have  a  graded  school 
and  high  school  and  employ  a  prin¬ 
cipal  and  seventeen  teachers  with  a 
payroll  of  over  $15,000  per  year. 

We  have  seen  some  of  the  war 
preparations  here  and  aeroplanes 
have  ceased  to  be  a  wonder  as  they 
were  flying  over  about  every  day  all 
summer.  We  hear  the  big  guns  when 
being  tested  at  Sandy  Hook  and  the 
big  fire  and  destruction  of  the  shell 
loading  plant  at  Morgan  gave  us  some 
idea  of  a  bombardment  when  the  ex¬ 
plosions  of  shells  was  continuous  for 
twenty-four  hours  and  the  exploding 
magazines  were  breaking  out  plate 
glass  windows  over  twenty  miles 
away.  We  are  2  miles  from  (Morgan, 
but  the  explosions  of  T.  N.  T.  were 
terrific.  We  are  glad  the  war  is  over 
and  the  Huns  beaten  and  we  hope  the 
peace  terms  will  make  it  impossible 
for  Germany  to  ever  come  back  as  a 
great  military  power. 

The  reconstruction  of  business  will 
bring  its  troubles  and  failures,  but 
we  hope  our  country  will  success¬ 
fully  accomplish  the  change  from 
war  work  with  its  tremendous  ex¬ 
penditures  to  peace  work  and  normal 
times. 

With  best  wishes  for  you  and  yours 
I  remain, 

Yours  very  truly, 

Oscar  Drake. 


Here  follows  a  letter  which  is 
timely,  and  like  the  many  others,  ex¬ 
ceedingly  interesting.  The  writer  of 
it  is  the  oldest  railroad  man  in  active 
service  on  the  system  today  and  has 
seen  the  railroad  grow  from  a  small 
beginning  to  its  present  magnitude 
under  governmental  supervision. 


24 


Berlin,  lN.  H.,  Maxell  9,  1919. 
Friend  Caswell: 

We  are  having  a  March  blizzard 
here  today,  which  reminds  me  of  a 
great  storm  the  17th  of  March,  1870. 

I  left  Woodsville  with  engine  Duffe 
and  the  snow  plough  at  3  o’clock  in 
the  morning  ahead  of  the  way  freight. 
There  was  about  six  inches  of  snow 
when  we  left  Woodsville;  when  we 
reached  Warren  there  was  a  foot; 
at  Plymouth  a  foot  and  a  half.  Patch 
Clifford’s  train  ha  dnot  left  Plymouth 
when  we  arrived.  They  started  a 
plough  out  from  Lake  Village  coming 
north  in  about  two  feet  of  snow.  At 
Hadley’s  cut,  about  a  mile  from  there 
the  plow  went  into  the  snow  and 
could  not  “spin  a  thread.”  The  crew 
sent  back  to  Lake  Village  for  all  the 
men  they  comld  get  to  shovel  them 
out.  Mr.  Dodge  (the  superintendent) 
gave  us  orders  to  go  down  from  Ply¬ 
mouth  with  our  plough,  hitching 
Franconia  in  with  the  Duffe.  We 
started  for  Lake  Village.  Our  pilot, 
Sid  Davis  did  not  know  the  road  south 
of  Plymouth,  so  Mr.  Dodge  sent  John 
L.  Davis,  an  old-time  engineer  to 
take  charge  of  the  plough. 

We  went  into  the  snow  at  Hadley’s 
cut  and  got  stuck.  We  backed  up 
and  tried  it  the  second  time.  When 
we  stopped  in  the  snow,  the  plough 
and  engine  Duffe  were  off  the  track. 
This  was  about  2  p.  m„  and  we  did 
not  get  on  track  and  cut  until  about 
midnight.  Mail  train  was  following 
with  3  engines.  We  sent  three  men 
back  to  stoj)  them.  They  passed  2 
without  seeing  them.  The  third  man, 
John  Davis,  stopped  them.  The  snow 
was  seventeen  feet  deep  each  side  of 
track,  blowing  in  almost  as  fast  as 
three  men  could  shovel  it  out.  When 
we  came  back,  hitched  Duffe  with 
snow  plough  on  mail  train.  After 
having  breakfast  at  Pemigewasset 
House  about  3  a.  m.,  this  being  the 
first  we  had  to  eat  since  six  o’clock 
the  morning  before  at  Warren,  we 


went  to  Woodsville.  Those  were  the 
days  when  we  used  to  bear  grief  with 
a  smile^ 

That  lame  month  there  was  an¬ 
other  heavy  south-easter  on  the  25th 
and  about  two  feet  of  snow  came.  The 
snow  all  went  the  following  spring 
without  a  freshet  and  the  next  sum¬ 
mer  was  very  dry. 

Yours  truly, 

GEO  E.  HUTCHINS. 


Going  back  to  a  former  subject, 
naming  of  locomotives:  It  has  always 
seemed  to  the  writer  a  mistake  to 
eliminate  the  names  of  locomotives. 
What  interest  would  vessels  have  if 
lettered  or  numbered  instead  of  hav¬ 
ing  names?  It  may  be  that  the  old 
practice  will  be  restored  on  railroads. 
“No  new  policy  undertaken  in  re¬ 
cent  years  by  the  Canadian  Pacific 
Railway,”  says  the  Wall  Street  Jour¬ 
nal,  “has  received  such  widespread 
expression  of  approval  as  that  of 
naming  passenger  locomotives  after 
the  engineers  who  by  reason  of  their 
fine  service  or  deeds  of  exceptional 
heroism  have  earned  distinction. 
These  names  will  be  incorporated  on 
the  newly  adopted  insignia  of  the 
railway,  a  circular  band  enclosing  a 
beaver-mounted  shield  on  which  is 
painted  the  maple  leaf.  The  name 
of  the  engineer  will  be  in  letters  of 
gold  upon  a  blue  ground,  the  green 
leaf,  the  white  shield  and  the  brown 
beaver  affording  a  striking  color  com¬ 
bination.  The  insignia  will  be  paint¬ 
ed  under  the  window  of  the  engin¬ 
eer’s  cab.” 

Vast  changes  in  these  times  have 
brought  about  modern  ideas,  and 
with  government  ownership  of  rail¬ 
roads,  the  roads,  trains,  engine  and 
equipment  loses  individuality,  and 
what  there  is  in  future  days,  possibly 
with  the  electrifying  of  the  present 
railroad  systems  of  the  country,  in¬ 
cluding  of  course  the  mountain  sys¬ 
tem  which  connects  this  section  of 


25 


the  state  with  the  outside  world  is 
by  no  means  impossible;  and  should 
that  time  ever  come  there  would  be 
nothing  unreasonable  in  naming  the 
locomotives  for  good  men  who  helped 
to  shape  the  road’s  history  when  it 
first  came  into  being. 


Here  is  a  word  from  Clarence  W. 
■Adams,  another  old  timer  who  in 
early  days  of  the  road  was  an  engin¬ 
eer.  !He  is  now  station  agent  at  Til¬ 
ton.  Clarence  Adams  knows  rail¬ 
roading  from  A  to  Z,  or  in  other 
words  from  the  humble  trackman, 
round-house  wiper  and  crossing  ten¬ 
der,  telegraph  operator  along  up  the 
line  to  the  highest  office. 

Friend  Caswell: 

Having  read  with  much  interest 
the  different  letters  being  published 
in  the  Warren  News  1  thought  I 
might  add  a  little  to  the  interest.  Of 
course  we  are  all  liable  to  mistakes 
especially  from  memory  if  taken  too 
far  back.  I  notice  one  error  and  that 
is  Mr.  Cummings  says  the  engines 
burned  in  I860. 

The  shops  at  Hake  Village  were 
burned  January  31,  1857.  I  well  re¬ 
member  of  my  mother  telling  about 
it.  what  a  terrible  cold  night  it  was; 
thermometer  was  something  like  20 
below  and  the  wind  was  blowing  a 
gale.  It  was  thought  the  whole  Vil¬ 
lage  would  go  but  a  change  of  wind 
saved  it. 

I  remember  some  more  of  the  old 
timers  which  have  not  been  men¬ 
tioned:  Jabe  Gannon  and  Jed  Good¬ 
win,  engineers.  Gannon  died  when  I 
was  a  boy.  Goodwin  left  the  road 
and  went  with  the  'New  Jersey,  run 
there  many  years  and  is  now  retired 
on  a  pension  and  lives  in  New  Jersey, 
I  think. 

Among  some  of  the  other  engin¬ 
eers  of  35  or  40  years  ago  might  be 
mentioned:  Sam.  Cawley,  Sam.  Kim¬ 


ball,  Frank  Clifford,  Freeman  Car¬ 
penter,  Will  Swain,  Nell  (Nelson)  Be¬ 
dell,  F.  P.  Swasey,  ,H.  iE.  Whiting. 

iSwasey,  with  Tommy  White  as 
fireman  was  coming  out  of  Woods- 
ville  one  time  on  the  night  express 
many  years  ago,  went  over  the  dump 
and  into  the  swamp  at  the  “Y” 
switch;  both  were  injured  badly. 
They  had  the  old  Ohocorua.  She 
was  pretty  well  demolished  but  was 
picked  up  and  repaired  and  did  good 
service  many  years  after.  I  have 
some  of  the  pictures  of  that  wreck 
somewhere  and  I  remember  one  of 
them  shows  Bill  Clement  standing  be¬ 
side  the  Chocorua.  It  was  sure 
some  wreck.  I  helped  clean  it  up 
and  afterwards  went  to  Woodsville  on 
a  Saturday  night  and  drew  her  to 
Lake  Village.  All  of  the  other  en¬ 
gineers  mentioned  above  went  west, 
some  of  them  have  gone  “west”  since. 
Sam.  Cawley  and  Frank  Clifford  were 
on  the  Lake  Shore  the  last  I  knew, 
Sam.  Kimball  somewhere  in  the  South. 
— (He  died  at  Macon,  Go.,  a  year  and 
a  half  ago.) — Caswell. 

I  well  remember  the  old  conduc¬ 
tors  already  mentioned  and  might 
mention  a  few  more.  George  V. 
Moulton  and  his  brother,  Hi  Moul¬ 
ton,  who  was  killed  on  the  Branch 
many  years  ago.  George  left  the 
road  and  entered  the  shoe  business 
at  Lancaster,  N.  H.  Later  he  sold 
out  and  now  lives  on  a  farm  in  La¬ 
conia.  Another  was  Joe  Prescott, 
who  was  on  the  Branch  some  time. 


In  those  days  the  conductor  practi¬ 
cally  had  charge  of  the  Branch. 
Frank  'Simpson,  another  old  timer, 
run  here  many  years;  left  here  in 


1885  and  went  to  the  Union  Pacific, 
run  there  many  years  and  died  in 
Laramie,  Wyoming,  or  Cheyenne  a 
few  years  ago.  W.  iH.  Weeks  was 
another  one.  He  is  now  running  on 
the  B.  &  M.  R.  R.  in  Nebraska. 

Yours  truly, 

C.  W.  ADAMiS. 

Tilton,  N.  H. 


-j 


Tilton,  N.  H.,  March  17,  1919. 
Friend  Caswell: 

In  your  issue  of  March  7th,  I  no¬ 
tice  Mr.  Drake  says  the  Lancaster 
was  the  last  engine  Bogy  Drake  ran. 
In  1876  Bogy  had  the  Northumber¬ 
land  on  the  mail  train  between  Con¬ 
cord  and  Woods  ville.  About  the  first 
of  April  Bogy  wTas  off  one  trip  and  I 
run  for  him.  He  took  his  train 
again  at  Woodsville  and  ran  it  one 
round  trip  and  was  taken  sick  again. 
I  do  not  remember  who  ran  the  train 
to  Plymouth,  but  on  the  8th  of  April 

1876,  father  sent  me  to  Plymouth  to 
take  the  train  and  I  ran  it  until  the 
last  day  of  December  and  on  Jan.  1, 

1877,  West  Lyons  was  assigned  to  it. 
Bogy  never  run  after  that,  although 
he  lived  many  years.  M.  H.  Annis 
was  firing  for  Bogy  at  that  time,  and 
I  think  he  was  set  up  running  the 
8th  of  April,  the  day  I  took  the  train. 
I  had  the  Northumberland  for  a 
while,  then  she  was,  with  one  or  two 
other  engines  sent  to  the  So.  Eastern 
road  out  of  Newport,  Vt.,  now  a  part 
of  the  Canadian  Pacific.  I  had  dur¬ 
ing  the  summer  various  engines,  and 
finally  got  the  Chocorua  for  keeps. 
I  think  it  was  in  July  she  was  taken 
into  the  shop,  the  air  brake  put  on 
and  I  remained  with  her.  We  run 
her  around  the  yard  and  tried  it  out. 
I  took  the  mail  north  at  Lake  Vil¬ 
lage  one  day;  had  never  used  the 
automatic  so  did  not  know  much 
about  handling  it,  except  what  the 
Inspector  had  told  me.  Well,  we 
hitched  up,  tried  the  brakes  and 
started.  There  was  a  long  bridge 
near  the  Weirs  over  which  we  had 
to  slow  down.  I  made  that  alright 
and  thought  I  would  make  a  nice 
stop  at  the  Weirs.  I  did!  In  those 
days  the  baggage,  mail  and  express 
was  all  in  one  car.  Baggage  first, 
then  the  mail  room  and  the  express 
in  end  of  car  next  to  the  engine,  a 
walk  on  side  of  car  from  baggage 
part  to  end  of  car.  In  the  express 
part  were  shelves  on  which  the  mes- 


26 

senger  piled  the  small  packages  and 
this  was  well  filled.  I  made  the 
stop  alright.  George  Crans  was  ex¬ 
press  messenger  and  the  first  thing 
I  heard  after  we  stopped  was,  “What 
in  H — 1  you  trying  to  do  Clarence?” 
The  sudden  lurch  caused  by  not  re¬ 
leasing  the  air  had  thrown  all  of  the 
bundles  and  packages  off  the  shelf 
and  nearly  buried  him.  We  often 
laughed  about  it  afterwards. 

Bogy  had  very  little  money  laid 
up  and  I  spent  several  days  on  the 
road  with  a  paper  and  collected  be¬ 
tween  two  and  three  hundred  dol¬ 
lars  which  was  divided  between 
Bogy  and  Plenry  Little,  who  was 
taken  sick  soon  after  Bogy. 

C.  W.  ADAMS. 


The  railroad  article  last  week 
closed  with  a  letter  from  Clarence 
W.  Adams  of  Tilton,  and  the  follow¬ 
ing  having  come  to  this  office,  is  ap¬ 
propriate  for  continuation.  The 
article  was  published  in  the  Rail¬ 
road  Employee,  published  in  New¬ 
ark,  N.  J.,  July  1910. 

A  railroad  veteran  in  the  full 
sense  the  term  implies,  and  a  man 
who  during  his  youth  and  early  man¬ 
hood  was  permitted  to  intimately 
associate  with  those  who  were  pio¬ 
neers  and  upbuilders  of  the  Ameri¬ 
can  railroad,  and  who  has  since  been 
constantly  associated  with  that  ser¬ 
vice,  is  Clarence  W.  Adams,  agent 
for  the  Boston  and  Maine  Railroad, 
at  Tilton,  N.  H.,  recently  elected 
president  of  the  Agents’  Association 
of  that  road. 

Mr.  Adams,  who  is  also  a  promi¬ 
nent  and  active  member  of  the  Or¬ 
der  of  Railroad  Station  Agents,  was 
born  in  Lake  Village,  now  Lakeport, 
N.  H.,  Jan.  31,  1856.  His  father, 

Ralph  Adams,  was  connected  with 
the  old  Boston,  Concord  and  Mon¬ 
treal  Railroad,  B.  &  L.  R.  R.,  Con¬ 
cord  and  Montreal  R.  R.,  and  Boston 


and  Maine  R.  R.,  for  56  years,  be¬ 
ginning  when  the  road  only  extend¬ 
ed  to  Meredith  Village,  and  for  20 
years  held  the  position  of  master 
mechanic,  with  headquarters  at  Lake 
Village. 

Young  Adams  learned  the  rudi¬ 
ments  of  railroading  in  his  father’s 
office  during  vacation  periods,  com¬ 
mencing  when  he  was  12  years  of 
age.  taking  lessons  in  telegraphy  on 
the  old  style  paper  tape  instrument, 
sound  operators  being  unknown  ar 
that  time.  Messages  were  received 
on  the  tape  and  afterwards  copied. 
The  U.  S.  &  C.  Co.,  controlled  the 
business  through  New  Hampshire, 
and  W.  S.  Taylor  held  the  combined 
position  of  agent  and  clerk  in  charge 
of  the  accounts  of  the  Motive  Power 
Department. 

Mr.  Adams  continued  learning  the 
business  as  opportunity  offered  un¬ 
til  1873,  when  he  was  assigned  to 
the  road  service  as  a  fireman,  and 
shortly  thereafter  was  given  charge 
of  an  engine,  his  first  regular  as¬ 
signment  being  with  a  construction 
train  engaged  in  laying  steel  north 
of  Concord.  Mr.  Adams  says  that  in 
these  early  days  it  was  not  an  infre¬ 
quent  custom  to  send  an  engine  out 
on  the  road  without  a  fireman,  to 
perform  station  and  construction 
work. 

The  first  car  of  lumber  used  on  the 
famous  Methodist  Camp  Ground  at 
Weirs  was  hauled  by  Mr.  Adams, 
from  Lake  Village,  with  the  engine 
“Mountain  Maid”,  Joseph  Wffiiten, 
long  since  deceased,  being  the  brake- 
man.  On  this  trip  the  presiding 
elder  of  the  association  sat  on  the 
old  fashioned  tender  box  and  held  on 
to  his  high  hat  with  both  hands. 
When  the  grounds  were  completed, 
Mr.  Adams  ran  the  first  excursion 
train  which  carried  passengers  to 
its  opening.  The  crew  of  this  train 
included  W.  S.  Taylor,  conductor; 
F.  W.  Lougee,  fireman;  J.  T.  Glaze- 


27 

brook,  J.  I.  Folsom  and  Herman 
Foss,  brakeman.  Mr.  Taylor  was  in 
charge  of  the  office  at  Lake  Village 
at  this  time,  and  acted  as  conductor 
of  all  the  extra  trains,  the  balance 
of  the  crew  being  selected  from 
among  the  shop  employees,  and  in 
consequence  a  “special”  could  be 
made  up  at  short  notice.  In  1873, 
when  Mr.  Adams  was  at  school  in 
New  Hampton,  he  was  returning 
home  one  Friday  evening,  and  found 
that  the  railroad  bridge  at  East  Til¬ 
ton  had  been  destroyed  by  fire  dur¬ 
ing  the  day  and  that  several  trains 
were  held  up  at  Lake  Village.  The 
bridge  was  repaired  during  the  night 
but  when  they  came  to  send  out  the 
trains  they  found  themselves  short 
of  available  trainmen,  and  young 
Adams  was  assigned  as  conductor 
of  one  of  the  trains. 

In  the  fall  and  winter  of  1874,  Mr. 
Adams  was  at  school  in  Tilton.  The 
weather  was  unusually  severe,  and 
one  of  his  diversions  was  to  go  home 
Friday  night,  and  when  he  got  the 
chance  run  the  snow  plow,  as  en¬ 
gineer,  on  Saturday  and  Sunday,  re¬ 
turning  to  his  studies  on  Monday. 

The  B.,  C.  &  M.,  owned  a  steam¬ 
boat  called  the  “James  Bell.”  She 
was  built  at  Center  Harbor,  in  1874, 
and  was  designed  to  run  between 
Lake  Village  and  Alton  Bay,  to  con¬ 
nect  with  the  Boston  and  Maine,  and 
carry  freight.  Owing  to  competition 
the  B.,  C.  &  M.,  purchased  the  boat 
and  used  it  during  the  summer  sea¬ 
sons  for  excursions  and  private 
parties.  In  1876,  Mr.  Adams  was 
placed  in  charge  of  this  craft,  and 
served  as  its  captain  for  seven  sum¬ 
mers.  He  handled  excursions  of 
from  100  to  3b0  persons,  and  would 
go  anywhere  for  passengers  around 
the  lake  during  the  camp-meetings 
and  reunions  at  Weirs.  He  made 
regular  trips  between  Lake  Village 
and  Weirs  and  when  the  camp-meet¬ 
ing  was  in  session  at  Alton  Bay  he 


28 


would  run  between  that  place  and 
Wolfboro,  connecting  with  the  steam¬ 
er  “Lady  of  the  Lake”,  owned  by  the 
company.  His  time  was  not  alto¬ 
gether  taken  up  with  this  work,  and 
when  not  on  the  boat  he  ran  a  train 
on  the  Main  Line.  In  1875,  he  was 
in  charge  of  a  work  train  between 
Lancaster  and  Pabyan,  N.  H.,  and 
during  the  summer  pulled  the  va¬ 
rious  trains  on  the  branch  between 
Wing  Road  and  Fabyan,  and  later 
between  Woodsville  and  that  station. 

On  April  8th,  1876,  Mr.  Adams  was 
assigned  to  what  was  then  known  as 
the  “mail”  train,  between  Concord 
and  Woodsville,  and  served  in  that 
capacity  until  December  31st,  after 
which  for  some  time  he  did  spare 
work  and  then  ran  the  Montreal  Ex¬ 
press  between  Concord  and  Woods- 
vi'lle.  He  continued  on  the  express 
until  1882,  at  which  time  there  was 
a  big  wreck  on  Ashland  Hill,  and  sev¬ 
eral  changes  were  made,  and  he  was 
asked  by  J.  A.  Dodge  to  go  into  the 
office  at  Lake  Village  and  take  charge. 
In  addition  to  his  office  duties  he  was 
to  run  as  spare  conductor  when 
needed.  He  had  charge  of  the  Mo¬ 
tive  Power  and  Road  Department  ac¬ 
counts  and  made  up  the  pay-rolls. 
He  also  ran  the  first  pay  car  over  the 

Mr.  Adams  continued  as  conduc¬ 
tor,  engineer,  clerk  and  general  util¬ 
ity  man  until  1884,  when,  upon  the 
resignation  of  his  father,  he  left  the 
service  to  take  up  railroading  in  the 
West,  locating  on  the  B.  &  M.  R.,  at 
Platsmouth,  Neb.,  as  roundhouse 
foreman  and  was  shortly  thereafter 
transferred  to  Red  Cloud,  in  charge 
of  a  switcher.  The  climate  not 
agreeing  with  his  health,  together 
with  Mrs.  Adams,  who  had  accom¬ 
panied  her  husband  west,  he  returned 
to  New  Hampshire,  arrived  home  on 
Christmas  day,  1884,  where  he  re¬ 
entered  the  service  of  the  B.,  C.  & 
M.,  serving  in  different  capacities 
such  as  dispatcher,  engineer,  conduc¬ 


tor,  agent  and  operator  until  early 
in  July  1885,  when  he  was  sent  for 
by  superintendent  W.  A.  Stowell, 


Old  Passenger  Station, 
Tilton,  N.  H. 


present  general  manager  of  the  M. 
&  W.  R.  R.,  and  assigned  to  relieve 
temporarily  the  agent  at  Tilton, 
which  assignment  was  continued 
permanently,  Mr.  Adams  having  been 
the  agent  at  that  station  since. 


Next  comes  some  reminiscences  of  early  rail¬ 
road  days  as  told  by  William  P.  Lang,  the  veter¬ 
an  auctioneer,  salesman  and  general  all  around 
man  of  Tilt  on. 

Tilton,  N.  H.,  April  12,  1919. 
Dear  Sir: 

After  seeing  so  many  interesting 
items  in  regard  to  the  B.  C.  & 
M.  railroad  and  its  early  history 
I  came  to  the  conclusion  that  a  letter 
from  me  showing  something  of  my 
experiences  in  railroading  in  connec¬ 
tion  with  other  incidentals  might  be 
worthy  of  your  attention.  Early  in 
the  summer  of  1865  I  applied  for  a 
job  and  got  it  through  Mark  Law- 


29 

rence  at  that  time  station  agent  at 
Plymouth.  I  went  to  Plymouth  and 
visited  the  railroad  office  and  they 
put  me  to  work  on  a  freight.  The 
freights  were  all  way  freights  then. 
Ezra  Mann,  now  proprietor  of  a  drug 
store  at  Woodsville,  was  the  conduc¬ 
tor.  I  made  a  few  trips  with  him  as 
brakeman.  Then  they  took  me  into 
the  station  at  Plymouth  making  me 
baggage  master  at  the  Plymouth  de¬ 
pot.  Of  course  the  trains  north  and 
south  at  that  time  met  at  Plymouth 
end  that  was  the  place  for  dinner  at 
that  time  as  always. 

The  two  conductors  on  the  mail 
train  at  that  time  were  Seth  Green- 
leaf  and  Sid  Russ.  In  those  days 
they  run  cars  from  Providence  and 
Worcester  to  Plymouth,  returning  on 
the  next  train.  We  used  to  have  to 
shift  them  out  up  there.  After  the 
train  left  there  was  nothing  more 
done  until  night.  They  would  put 
cattle  racks  on  behind  the  mail  train 
and  go  down  below  Plymouth  about 
two  miles  to  the  intervale  where  the 
cattle  racks  would  be  unhitched  and 
left  on  the  main  line.  The  train  men 
would  then  notify  Patch  Clifford  in 
Concord  and  the  engine  on  the  train 
north  corresponding  to  the  one  now 
going  through  here  about  4  p.  m., 
would  stop  and  push  us  back,  the 
cattle  racks  having  been  meanwhile 
loaded  with  dry  peeled  excelsior  wood, 
cut  in  four  foot  length.  The  busi¬ 
ness  of  manufacturing  excelsior  mat¬ 
tresses  had  just  started  to  boom  at 
that  time  and  thousands  of  cords  of 
wood  were  handled.  The  men  would 
hurry  to  get  it  loaded  and  would  then 
sit  down  in  the  shade  and  rest  until 
the  train  arrived.  Thus  you  see  a 
train  would  set  on  the  main  line  prac¬ 
tically  all  day,  but  traffic  was  not  as 
heavy  in  those  days. 

One  noon  the  train  up  was  late.  It 
was  my  duty  to  attend  the  switches 
and  make  the  shift.  Old  Henry  Little 
was  the  engineer  that  day.  He  was 


running  the  Chocorua.  The  train  was 
scheduled  to  back  down  on  to  a  sid¬ 
ing.  I  set  the  switch  way  over  and 
down  they  came  hitting  the  switch 
and  then  bumping  along  on  the  ties, 
the  three  cars  and  engine  all  going 
off  on  the  wall  track  in  front  of  the 
Railroad  office.  The  first  thing  I  saw 
was  Superintendent  Dodge,  Jim  L. 
Rogers,  the  treasurer  and  Charles 
Whittier  come  running  down  the 
track  and  over  across  to  see  what  was 
the  matter.  Dodge  always  called  me 
“Charles”  and  he  said  “Charles  who 
did  this?”  I  answered  “I  am  like 
George  Washington,  I  cannot  tell  a 
lie,  I  did  it.”  “Well”  Dodge  thunder¬ 
ed,  “That’s  all  we  want  of  you”.  I 
was  boarding  at  Henry  Green’s,  an 
old  blacksmith’s,  and  I  went  for  my 
things.  By  the  time  they  had  got 
the  train  back  on  the  track  I  was 
ready  to  come  home.  I  got  a  letter 
the  next  day  saying  that  I  could  come 
back  but  I  said  “No”.  I  presume  if 
I  had  returned  I  might  have  been 
superintendent  or  president  of  the 
road  by  this  time.  They  put  a  man 
named  Gilman  in  my  place  and  he 
hadn’t  been  there  a  week  before  he 
run  a  train  off  about  the  same  way, 
only  his  run  into  the  shed  and  did 
considerable  damage.  My  run  off  had 
not  resulted  in  any  damage.  They 
kept  Gilman  for  many  years. 

That  incident  ended  my  services  as 
a  railroad  man. 

I  remember  the  railroad  way  back 
here  when  the  engine  house  and  turn¬ 
table  was  near  Carter’s  mill.  I  have 
some  of  the  railroad  reports  for  the 
year  1855  which  are  quite  interesting. 

Of  course  I  remember  the  old  con¬ 
ductors  Sid  Russ  and  Seth  Greenleaf 
well.  Sid  was  a  comical  fellow.  He 
used  to  have  a  lot  of  fun  with  Darius 
Dockham,  who  lived  across  the  street 
from  the  depot.  Mr.  Dockham  was 
always  sitting  out  on  the  piazza  in 
front  of  his  house.  One  day  Sid  ar¬ 
rived  and  said,  “Where’s  Dockham?” 


30 


He  finally  located  .him  and  said,  “Oh 
here  you  are.  Shall  I  go  along?” 
Mr.  Dockham  answered  “Yes”  and 
Sid  said  “All  right  I  didn’t  want  to  go 
until  you  said  I  could.”  A  stranger 
riding  on  Sid’s  train  one  day  asked 
him  what  kind  of  a  place  Sanbornton 
Bridge  was  and  how  many  people 
lived  there.  “Wait  until  we  get 
there”  Sid  replied.  “They  will  all  be 
at  the  depot  and  you  can  tell  for 
yourself.”  He  was  a  dry  chap.  I 
well  remember  him  as  he  stood  in  the 
door  of  the  baggage  car  smoking  his 
old  clay  pipe.  At  Northfield  Depot 
many  times  the  train  would  stop  and 
all  hands  would  have  to  get  out  and 
wood  up. 

One  day  a  woman  was  riding  north 
with  Sid.  She  was  going  to  Laconia. 
When  the  train  arrived  at  East  Til¬ 
ton  she  started  to  get  off  but  the  con¬ 
ductor  told  her  that  she  had  not 
reached  Laconia  yet.  When  the  train 
did  arrive  at  Laconia  she  said  to  Sid, 
“Which  end  shall  I  get  off  from?”, 
and  he  answered  “Both  ends  are  go¬ 
ing  to  stop,  Madam,  take  3rour 
choice”. 

The  train  called  the  Shoo  Fly  was 
made  up  to  start  with  at  Plymouth. 
The  year  has  gone  from  me  now.  We 
were  all  at  the  station  to  see  the  first 
train  down.  It  consisted  of  a  little 
passenger  car,  a  small  baggage  car 
and  the  engine  called  the  Moun¬ 
tain  Maid.  Bill  Kimball  was 
the  engineer.  Pete  Hinds  was  the 
conductor.  It  was  at  the  time  the 
song  “Shoo  Fly,  Don’t  Bother  Me”, 
was  first  got  up.  Arthur  Kimball  an 
eccentric  fellow,  said  “We  ought  to 
call  it  the  Shoo  Fly”.  Everybody 
was  whistling  this  tune  and  from 
that  time  on  the  train  has  always 
been  known  as  the  Shoo  Fly.  The 
name  originated  here. 

I  well  remember  the  time  before 
there  was  any  railroad  station  at 
Tilton,  or  Sanbornton  Bridge.  They 
sold  tickets  from  Robert  S.  Perkins’ 


parlor  window.  He  was  afterwards 
station  agent.  Plis  house  set  where 
our  depot  does  now.  It  was  moved 
across  the  track  when  the  old  depot 
Wh3  built. 

In  October  1852  they  held  a  state 
fair  at  Laconia.  I  have  one  of  the 
badges  with  the  names  of  Judge 
Nesmith,  Frederick  Smyth  and  Mr. 
Walker  of  Concord  upon  it.  Laconia 
was  at  that  time  Meredith  Bridge. 
The  day  was  one  of  the  biggest  in  the 
history  of  the  railroad  and  a  tre¬ 
mendous  crow’d  was  on  hand.  I  want¬ 
ed  to  go  but  my  mother  wouldn’t  let 
me  and  I  set  on  the  fence  at  my  house 
and  watched  the  people.  All  of  a 
sudden  we  heard  a  great  noise.  It 
was  a  runaway  horse  owned  by  Dr. 
Woodbury.  The  horse  and  two 
wheeled  doctor’s  rig  came  tearing 
down  through  the  crowd.  There  was 
great  excitement.  Finally  the  train 
came  in  and  after  the  people  had 
crowded  aboard  it  started  off.  Then 
we  heard  it  coming  back.  Ma  let  me 
run  down  to  the  depot  to  see  what 
the  trouble  was.  I  found  that  Mrs. 
John  Evans  had  been  killed  by  the 
train.  She  had  come  out  from  her 
home  near  the  crossing  at  the  Granite 
Mills  to  watch  the  crowd  and  had  got 
her  foot  caught  between  the  rail  and 
a  frog  and  had  been  unable  to  free 
herself.  Later  on  there  was  a  big 
accident  that  same  day  at  The  Weir-s. 
Dodge  was  the  conductor.  Some  of 
the  crowd  had  got  aboard  the  train  in 
front  in  order  to  avoid  paying  car 
fares.  The  train  was  stopped  at  the 
Weirs  bridge  so  that  the  conductor 
could  collect  the  tickets.  While  the 
train  stood  there  another  train  came 
along  and  smashed  into  the  rear  end 
of  the  train  that  had  stopped.  Sev¬ 
eral  people  were  killed.  I  have  a  list 
of  all  the  engines  they  had  on  the 
road  in  1855  and  of  the  number  of 
cars  they  had  then. 

I  recall  that  there  have  been  a  good 
many  accidents  at  our  crossings  at 


31 


different  times  and  several  people 
have  been  killed  right  here.  I  re¬ 
member  them  all  pretty  well. 

I  remember  they  used  to  draw 
empty  cars  on  the  Plains  Saturday  af¬ 
ternoon  and  load  them*  with  lumber* 
Sunday.  Then  they  were  cut  loose 
with  one  man  on  the  brakes.  One 
Sunday  they  got  away  from  him  and 
all  went  off  the  siding.  The  freight 
depot  was  so  arranged  at  that  time 
that  the  train  went  right  through. 
These  cars  stove  through  both  doors, 
crashing  right  through  the  station. 
I  was  a  young  fellow  at  the  time.  I 
remember  that  some  of  the  men 
jumped  off  and  were  pretty  badly 
lamed.  John  Paige  jumped  and 
sprawled  out  there.  Luckily  the  cars 
were  not  going  very  fast.  Possibly 
some  of  the  items  from  the  annual 
report  of  the  Directors  of  the  Boston, 
Concord  and  Montreal  railroad  for 
the  year  ending  May  1,  1855  may  be 
of  interest  to  your  readers.  For  in¬ 
stance  James  M.  Whiton,  superin¬ 
tendent  pro  tern  says  during  his  re¬ 
port:  I  am  grateful  to  be  able  to  add 
in  conclusion  that  no  accident  has 
happened  to  any  passenger  since  the 
time  I  took  charge  of  the  road.  Only 
two  instances  of  any  injury  of  any 
consequence  to  the  operatives  of  the 
road  have  occurred  in  the  same  time. 

“In  January  1854  while  a  freight 
train  was  on  its  route  in  Northfield, 
a  stick  of  timber  by  some  means  never 
satisfactorily  explained  worked  loose, 
carried  off  the  top  of  the  saloon  car 
and  broke  both  legs  of  W.  B.  Douglas, 
the  conductor. 

“Mr.  Douglas  has  recovered  and  is 
now  station  agent  at  Woodsville.  In 
March  last  George  Randall,  fireman, 

in  attempting  to  leap  from  an  engine 
at  Lake  Village  struck  the  ice  and 

fractured  his  thigh.  He  is  now  re¬ 
covering.  Annexed  are  statements  of 
the  road  equipment  which  shows  its 
present  condition.  The  number  of 


cars  is  kept  up,  all  which  have  been 
broken  or  worn  out  having  been  re¬ 
placed.  Respectfully  submitted.” 

Under  the  head  of  new  buildings 
the  report  says:  New  buildings  have 
been  constructed  as  follows — New 
passenger  station  at  Sanbornton 
bridge.  This  would  indicate  that  the 
depot  previous  to  the  present  build¬ 
ing  was  built  in  1855. 

I  note  several  other  interesting 
items  in  this  old  report.  One  says: 
The  corporation  are  in  possession  of 
wood  lands  to  the  extent  of  about 
7,000  acres  equivalent  to  over  ten 
square  miles  and  the  wood  required 
for  the  company  as  well  as  sleepers, 
material  for  repair  of  fences  and  for 
other  purposes  of  the  company  are 
procured  from  these  lands  and  at  an 
important  saving  in  expense.  The 
cost  of  the  lands  has  been  a  fraction 
over  $3  per  acre.  About  300  acres 
consist  of  farm  lands  which  are  to  be 
sold.  Other  lands  are  of  different 
values  but  mostly  covered  with  wood 
and  timber. 

The  list  of  engines  on  the  Boston, 
Concord  &  Montreal,  April  1,  1855. 
was  as  follows:  Old  Man  of  the 
Mountain,  Lady  of  the  Lake,  Old 
Crawford,  Josiah  Quincy,  James  N. 
Elkins  and  Ahquedauken  passenger 
engines,  Granite  State,  McDuffe,  Pe¬ 
ter  Clark,  Moosilauke,  Winnepisaukee 
and  Pehaugan,  freight  engines  and 
Pony  and  Paugus,  gravel  engines. 
They  all  had  four  driving  wheels. 
Winnepisaukee,  Pehaugan  and  Moosi- 
lauk  were  the  heaviest,  weighing  24 
tons  each.  Josiah  Quincy,  Old  Man 
of  the  Mountain,  Lady  of  the  Lake 
and  Old  Crawford  weighed  22  tons 
each.  Paugus  weighed  18  tons  and 
Pony  14  tons.  Hinkley  &  Drury,  Bos¬ 
ton  Locomotive  Works,  Lyman  South¬ 
er  and  the  B.,  C.  &  M.,  shops  were  the 
manufacturers.  They  were  all  re¬ 
ported  in  good  repair.  The  total 
miles  made  by  the  Lady  of  the  Lake 
was  23,378.  The  Old  Man  of  the 
Mountain  and  the  Granite  State  each 


32 


made  about  15,000  miles.  The  Mc- 
Duffee  was  credited  with  7,196. 

The  statement  regarding  cars  as 
shown  by  the  report  that  year  was  as 
follows:  two  single  saloon  cars  (pas¬ 
senger)  54  seats;  one  double,  50 
seats;  two  double,  48  seats;  five 
without  saloons,  60  seats;  two  bag¬ 
gage  and  post  office,  40 %  feet;  two 
baggage  and  post  office,  34%  feet; 
two  common  baggage;  74  long  box 
freight,  28  feet;  15  short  box  freight, 
13  feet;  eight  platform  freight,  13 
feet;  eight  platform  freight,  32  feet; 
111  platform  freight,  28  feet;  28  cat¬ 
tle  racks,  28  feet;  and  15  gravel  cars. 

The  total  income  was  given  as 
$298,282.31  of  which  $100,495.59  was 
from  passengers  and  $178,548.04  from 
freight.  Among  the  expenditures  was 
$21,659.16  for  wood  and  $4,792.97  for 
oil.  Passenger  labor  included  en¬ 
gineers,  firemen,  conductors,  brake- 
men,  car  cleaners  and  ticket  office 
expenses  for  passenger  trains  am¬ 
ounted  to  $27,812.60.  Merchandise 
labor  including  station  agents,  en¬ 
gineers,  conductors,  brakemen,  fire¬ 
men  and  extra  assistants  on  freight 
trains  cost  $27,812.60.  Repairs  on 
the  road  cost  $41,256.20  and  repairs 
on  engines  amounted  to  $12,234.60. 

Under  the  head  of  Gratuties  I  note 
the  following:  W.  B.  Douglas,  con¬ 
ductor,  both  legs  broken  on  freight 
train  $200.  Expense  for  same  $245.07. 
Doctor’s  bill  and  gratutity  to  Irish¬ 
man  injured  at  Haverhill  $38.25. 
Damages  paid  for  freight  loss  and 
injured  $1,421.20.  Salaries  $4,200. 

The  salary  of  the  president  was 
$1,000  including  all  his  traveling  ex¬ 
penses.  The  salary  of  the  superin¬ 
tendent  was  $2,000  and  his  expenses 
on  the  line  of  the  road.  The  treas¬ 
urer  received  $1,000  including  the 
pay  of  his  clerk. 

During  the  year  $1,054.94  was  ex¬ 
pended  for  advertising  including 
newspapers,  handbills,  maps  and 
other  advertisements  relating  to  this 


line  and  its  connections.  The  profits 
of  the  year  were  given  as  $140,951.14. 

An  interesting  comment  was  as 
follows:  The  risk  assumed  by  the 
railroad  is  a  matter  which  I  feel  con¬ 
fident  has  been  always  underrated. 
The  stringency  of  the  laws,  the  al¬ 
most  vindictive  verdicts  which  are 
sometimes  rendered  by  the  juries, 
render  risks  assumed  enormous.  So 
far  as  possible  every  precaution  has 
been  taken  to  obviate  danger  and  a 
more  general  understanding  among 
roads  as  to  changes  of  time  whereby 
trains  could  be  run  with  the  advant¬ 
age  of  habit  in  addition  to  the  fixed 
rules  would,  especially  in  single 
track  roads,  do  much  to  diminish 
this  item. 

I  also  have  a  copy  of  the  annual  re¬ 
port  for  1857.  In  this  report  the  di¬ 
rectors  express  regret  at  the  sudden 
death  of  their  late  superintendent, 
James  M.  Whiton.  The  net  earnings 
of  the  year  are  given  as  $105,044.19. 
The  report  says:  The  expenditures  of 
the  past  year  are  much  increased  by 
reason  of  the  flood  in  August  last  and 
by  the  fires  at  Plymouth  and  Lake 
Village  with  the  tax  of  1855  requiring 
an  outlay  of  $27,000  which  have  been 
added  to  the  current  account  of  1857. 
Treasurer  George  Minot  of  Concord 
presented  a  comparative  statement  of 
the  income  and  expenditures  for  the 
years  1856  and  1857.  The  gross  pas¬ 
senger  income  for  1856  was  $121,774.- 
74  and  for  1857  it  was  $115,475.72. 
The  gross  freight  income  for  ’56  was 
$236,631.69  and  for  ’57  it  was  $214,- 
292.49.  The  expenditures  for  ’56  were 
$163,378.67  and  for  ’57  they  were 
$155,742.25. 

In  addition  to  the  old  reports  I  have 
a  collection  of  old  tickets.  I  think 
the  oldest  is  a  baggage  ticket  issued 
when  East  Tilton  was  Union  Bridge. 
They  used  to  issue  tickets  for  bag¬ 
gage.  It  is  printed  on  both  sides 
alike  and  says,  “Boston,  Concord  & 
Montreal  Railroad.  To  Union  Bridge. 


33 

Baggage  valued  over  $50  to  be  at  own¬ 
er’s  risk  unless  notice  is  given  and 
extra  charges  paid.” 

Another  old  ticket  dated  June  2, 
1866  on  the  Northern  railroad  is  “To 
West  Andover”  and  is  signed  by  A.  G. 
Warren.  The  stamp  is  Northern 
Railroad  66. 

I  have  preserved  my  ticket  to  the 
opening  of  the  Lake  Shore  Railroad, 
Tuesday  June  17,  1890.  This  marked 
the  opening  of  the  new  line  between 


value  is  signed  by  C.  E.  Tilton,  Pres¬ 
ident,  and  is  an  annual  pass  on  the 
Tilton  &  Belmont  Railroad  for  the 
year  1890.  I  have  a  ticket  on  the 
Steamer  Lady  of  the  Lake  to  Wolf- 
boro  signed  J.  L.  Rogers  and  dated 
August  21,  1866. 

I  had  connection  with  the  railroad 
as  police  for  many  years.  It  was 
through  my  efforts  that  the  fellow 
was  caught  who  tried  to  run  a  train 
off  over  the  summit.  He  got  mad  at 


On  Plymouth  Intervale  in  the  summer  of  1872. 


Lake  Village  and  Alton  Bay.  A  spec¬ 
ial  train  left  Tilton  at  9.51  a.  m.,  that 
day.  C.  A.  Busiel  as  president  signed 
the  ticket. 

I  also  have  a  complimentary  ticket 
to  the  opening  at  Lancaster,  N.  H., 
Nov.  29,  1870,  reading  “Boston,  Con¬ 
cord  &  Montreal  &  White  Mountains 
(N.  H.)  Extension  Railroad.  Pass 
Mr.  W.  P.  Lang  from  Tilton  to  Lan¬ 
caster  and  return.  J.  A.  Dodge,  su¬ 
perintendent.”  The  engine  that  drew 
the  train  that  day  was  named  Lan¬ 
caster. 

I  am  still  holding  a  pass  dated 
Sept.  25,  1876,  Tilton  to  Plymouth, 
“On  account  of  police.”  One  of  the 
complimentary  tickets  I  especially 


the  railroad  because  he  had  been  put 
off  a  freight  and  tried  to  get  revenge 
by  piling  up  a  big  lot  of  ties  on  the 
track.  He  was  arrested,  convicted 
and  sentenced  to  15  years. 

Among  my  souvenirs  are  a  lot  of 
baggage  tags.  When  the  railroad 
gave  up  using  these  brass  checks  I 
happened  to  be  in  Boston  where  there 
were  barrels  of  them  at  the  North 
Station  and  I  picked  out  a  few. 

Among  my  collection  of  railroad 
souvenirs  I  ran  across  a  receipt  dated 
Sept.  25,  1862.  It  was  J.  L.  and  E.  A. 
Abbott  to  the  Boston,  Concord  & 
Montreal  Railroad  Corporation  Dr. 
For  transporting  from  Sanbornton  to 
Concord  a  lot  of  oak  lumber  weighing 


11,250  pounds.  The  charges  were  $9. 
The  Abbotts  were  connected  with  the 
Abbott,  Downing  Co.  The  bill  is 
signed  by  David  F.  Johnson,  station 
agent.  The  receipt  says:  All  goods 
and  merchandise  will  be  at  risk  of 
the  owners  while  in  the  store  houses 
of  the  company.  Terms  cash  on  de¬ 
livery. 

There  has  been  quite  a  change  in 
the  present  Tilton  station  since  it  was 
built.  The  present  building  has  been 
raised  about  two  feet  higher  than  it 
was  at  first.  The  new  street  was  in- 
staled  in  1895  and  at  that  time  the  de¬ 
pot  was  raised,  many  car  loads  of 
gravel  being  furnished  for  the  pur¬ 
pose  of  grading.  The  fountain  at  the 
depot  was  not  changed  and  this  is 
the  reason  that  it  is  so  low  down  at 
present. 

Yours  very  truly, 

William  P.  Lang. 

Tilton,  N.  H. 


After  fifty-five  years  of  service 
from  the  old  B,,  C.  &  M.  days,  along 
down  through  the  years,  up  to  last 
November  George  Ed  Cummings  had 
seen  more  railroad  service  than  any 
other  man  now  living  in  the  state  of 
New  Hampshire.  After  being  super¬ 
intendent  for  twenty-six  years,  Mr. 
Cummings,  owing  to  ill  health,  re¬ 
signed  with  a  railroad  record  equaled 
by  but  few. 

With  the  resignation  of  'Supt. 
George  E.  Cummings,  November  1st, 
1918,  ends  fifty  years  of  varied  rail¬ 
road  career.  As  records  show,  iMr. 
Cummings  began  railroading  in  the 
fall  of  1868,  as  watchman  in  the 
Woodsv'ille  Engine  house,  which  at 
that  time  was  the  terminal  of  the 
North  Country  railroad.  The  engine 
house  at  this  time  had  a  capacity  of 
five  engines  and  the  turntable  inside 
the  house.  The  engines  were  wood- 
burners,  requiring  the  handling  of  a 
large  amount  of  wood  by  the  em¬ 
ployees. 


Mr.  Cummings  remained  at  this 
post,  as  watchman  and  cleaner  of  en¬ 
gines  until  the  spring  of  1870,  when 
he  went  to  Littleton  to  fill  a  similar 
position,  going  from  there  to  Lan¬ 
caster  as  the  road  advanced  to  that 
point. 

Superintendent  J.  A.  Dodge  had 
promised  Cummings  a  job  breaking 
just  as  soon  as  he  was  old  enough 
and  his  size  would  permit,  and  in  the 
spring  of  1871  this  long  looked  for 
job  was  obtained,  and  with  pride  he 
entered  the  train  service.  At  this 
time  the  brakeunan  had  something  to 
do  besides  help  the  ladies  on  and  off 
and  call  out  the  stations.  The  pas¬ 
senger  cars  were  fitted  up  with  a 
wood  stove  in  the  center  of  the  car, 
two  candle  lamps,  one  on  each  side 
of  the  car,  which  gave  barely  ’light 
enough  to  see  vour  way  through  the 
coach.  The  cars  were  coupled  to¬ 
gether  with  link  and  pin,  and  all 
brakes  were  set  by  the  strength  of 
the  brak  ©man’s  arm.  The  brak  emeu 
were  assigned  two  brakes,  care  of 
baggage,  and  at  the  end  of  the  rim 
shifted  out  the  train,  sweep  the  cars, 
get  kindling  for  fires  on  the  return 
trip  and  arise  early  enough  to  build 
the  fires  and  get  the  cars  warm  be¬ 
fore  time  to  leave  the  terminal,  the 
run  being  from  Lancaster  to  Boston 
and  return.  In  addition  all  hands 
had  to  turn  out  and  help  wood  up 
from  three  to  four  times  enroiCe. 
(Likely  some  resignations  would  be 
sent  in  if  conditions  were  put  back 
to  that  now.) 

In  1874  the  first  parlor  car  was  run 
over  the  road;  Superintendent  Dodge 
and  Mr.  Cummings  going  with  it  to 
see  that  all  clearances  were  right  and 
that  no  harm  came  to  it.  This  car 
ran  from  boat  connection  at  New  Lon¬ 
don,  Conn.,  to  the  White  Mountains. 

In  the  fall  of  1875  Mr.  Cummings 
worked  in  shops  overseeing  the  build¬ 
ing  of  the  first  logging  trucks  which 
were  the  first  trucks  used  to  draw 


logs  from  the  North  Country  woods. 
In  these  days  the  way  freights  run 
from  Woodsville  to  Boston,  instead  of 
Plymouth  and  return,  as  at  present. 
The  run  was  made  in  four  days  with 
one  hr  ahem  an. 

In  1882  ;Mr.  Cummings  was  ap¬ 
pointed  wood  and  car  agent  with  of¬ 
fices  at  Woodsville,  'buying  some 
thirty  thousand  cords  of  wood  each 
year,  which  represented  about  the 
amount  consumed  by  the  road  each 


5 

Divisions  at  that  point,  a  position 
which  he  occupied  until  1888,  when 
he  was  appointed  trainmaster  at 
Woodsville. 

In  1889  he  was  appointed  iSuperin- 
tendent  of  the  Kilkenny  railroad,  in 
addition  to  his  duties  as  trainmaster 
at  Woodsville.  The  Kilkenny  road 
was  a  logging  road,  handling  logs  and 
lumber  over  very  hard  grades.  In 
May  of  the  same  year  he  was  appoint¬ 
ed  Assistant  Superintendent  of  the 


The  Weirs  Railroad  Station  and  Boat  Landing  Fitly  years  ago. 


year.  (Some  bill  with  the  price  of 
today.)  During  this  period  it  was  no 
uncommon  sight  to  see  a  train  of 
twenty-five  flat  cars  loaded  with  lum¬ 
ber  go  out  without  a  box  car  in  the 
train,  and  only  one  brakeman  to  go 
over  Warren  Summit. 

In  1884  the  Boston  and  Lowell 
leased  the  Boston,  Concord  and  (Mont¬ 
real  road  and  Mr.  Cummings  was  ap¬ 
pointed  transfer  agent  with  offices  at 
Concord,  and  was  in  charge  of  affairs 
for  the  White  Mountain  and  Northern 


Montreal  railroad  north  of  Concord 
with  headquarters  at  Woodsville, 
which  position  he  held  under  the  Su- 
pedintendency  of  Edw.  F.  Mann,  who 
died  in  August,  1892,  when  Mr.  Cum¬ 
mings  was  promoted  to  the  office  of 
Superintendent,  a  position  he  has 
held  through  all  the  changes  of  titles 
and  management  down  to  the  date  of 
his  resignation  on  'November  1. 

Mr.  Cummings  was  also  President 
of  the  Mount  Washington  for  several 
years,  and  all  in  all  knows  the  rail- 


36 


road  business  of  the  lines  (between 
Concord,  Groveton,  Berlin  and  the 
top  of  New  England  (Mt.  Washing¬ 
ton)  better  probably  than  any  other 
railroad  man  in  the  North  'Country. 

Lakeport,  March  10,  1919. 
Dear  Caswell. 

1  am  much  intertested  in  the  old 
time  railroad  articles.  Forty  years 
ago  I  was  one  of  the  boys  with  the 
rest  of  the  fellows  and  shall  never 
forget  these  days.  I  am  not  much  at 
writing,  but  could  use  to  “polish  a 
brake -head”  with  the  bes  t  of  them. 

In  my  bright  lexicon  of  youth 

There  was  no  such  word  as  “Fail,” 
And  in  those  days  I  was  quite  sure 
I  had  the  old  world  by  the  tail. 

But  now  that  I  know  thrice  as  much 
As  I  did  then,  I  heave  a  sigh. 

And,  looking  back,  I  wonder  how 
In  thunder  ration  I  got  by! 

ODD  TIMER. 

This  work  would  not  be  complete 
without  Joe  Hooker’s  name  mentioned 
in  it  somewhere.  Joseph  B.  Ayer 
was  himself  a  part  of  the  old  B.,  C.  & 
M.  'He  knew  how  to  handle  a  loco¬ 
motive,  and  keep  one  in  repair  as 
well.  He  had  a  habit  of  apparently 
sleeping  for  miles  at  a  time  when 
climbing  the  hills.  With  his  trusty 
hand  on  the  throttle,  but  when  the 
drivers  started  to  ‘slip”  an  intuition 
would  intercede  and  he  would  invari¬ 
ably  “put  her  in  to  the  center”  and 
she  would  “pick  up”  again.  A  trusty 
fireman  in  the  cab  with  him  always 

counted  for  much;  he  run  for  years 
without  any  serious  mishaps.  He  is 
now  spending  his  declining  years  on 
his  farm  beside  the  lake  just  out 
of  Lakeport. 


Already  there  has  appeared  a  list  of 
engines  and  their  locomotives  in  1882 
— 37  years  ago.  Another  list  comes 
to  hand  which  is  seven  years  older, 
1875  or  forty-four  years  ago,  and  is 
sent  by  ex-Supt.  Cummings.  The  list 
is  as  follows: 

Plymouth  was  run  by  Patch  Clifford. 

Lancaster,  West  Lyons. 

Mt.  Washington,  Charles  Hoit. 

Lady  of  the  Lake,  John  Marsh. 

Old  Crawford,  Will  Moore. 

Chocorua,  George  Ferguson. 

Ahquedockin,  Charles  Burleigh. 

Coos,  Henry  Little. 

Northumberland,  Bogy  (Alfred) 
Drake. 

J.  N.  Elkins,  George  E.  Randall. 

Fabyan,  Die  Sargent 

Profile,  Ossie  Berdean. 

Tip-Top,  Frank  Swasey. 

Peter  Clark,  William  Kimball. 

Winnipeseogee,  Martin  Perkins. 

Pehongun,  Sam  Kimball. 

Laconia,  Spare. 

Belknap,  Joe  Ayer. 

Pagus.  Nelson  Bedell. 

Granite  State,  Charles  Leonard. 

McDuffe,  John  Boynton. 

Moosilauke,  George  Lyon. 

Franconia,  True  Carpenter. 

Ammonoosuc,  Orrin  Bailey. 

Gilford,  Fred  Clifford. 

Tilton,  John  'Swain. 

Marshfield,  Spare. 

Stranger,  Spare. 

In  the  old  days  of  link  and  pin 
couplings  and  hand  brakes,  when 
railroads  were  in  their  infancy,  the 
brakemen  constantly  faced  dangers 
unknown  to  the  men  of  today.  A 
bright  lad  with  a  widowed  mother 
over  in  the  town  of  Easton,  was 
away  on  his  trip,  doing  his  best  to 
keep  the  wolf  from  the  door  of  the 
old  home;  in  a  moment  of  leisure  he 
wrote  these  lines  which  found  their 
way  into  some  newspaper: 


37 


The  Brakeman. 


By  Chas.  Dexter. 

Dust  grimed  features,  weather  beaten, 
Hands  that  show  the  sear  of  toil, 

Do  you  envy  him  his  station. 

Patient  tiller  of  the  soil? 

In  the  storm  or  in  the  sunshine, 

He  must  mount  the  speeding  train, 
Ride  outside  at  post  of  duty, 

Heeding  not  the  drenching  rain. 

In  the  pleasant  summer  weather 
Standing  on  the  car-top  high. 

He  can  view  the  charming  landscape, 

As  he  rushes  swiftly  by, 

When  he  note^  th  beauteous  picture 
Which  the  lovely  landscape  makes, 
Suddenly  across  his  dreaming 
Comes  a  quick,  shrill  cry  for  brakes. 

But  when  winter’s  icy  fingers 
Cover  earth  with  snowy  shroud, 

And  the  north  wind  like  a  mad  man, 
Pushes  on  with  shrieking  loud, 

Then  behold  the  gallant  brakeman 
Spring  to  heed  the  engines’  call 
Running  o’er  the  icy  car-tops, — 

God  protect  him  if  he  fall. 

Do  not  scorn  to  treat  him  kindly, 

He  will  give  you  smile  for  smile, 
Though  he  is  nothing  but  a  brakeman, 

Do  not  deem  him  surely  vile, 

Speak  to  him  in  kindly  language 

Though  his  clothes  are  coarse  and  plain, 
For  he  has  a  fearless  heart 
That  feels  both  joy  and  pain. 

He  may  have  a  widowed  mother. 

He  may  be  her  only  joy, 

Perhaps  in  her  home  she  is  praying 
For  the  safety  of  her  boy ; 

How  he  loves  that  dear  old  mother, 
Toiling  for  her  day-by-day, 

Always  bringing  her  some  present 
Every  time  he  draws  his  pay. 

Daily  facing  death  an  danger, 

One  mis-step  or  slip  of  hand, 

Sends  the  poor  unlucky  brakeman 
To  the  dreaded  unknown  laud, 

When  we  scan  our  evening  paper, 

Note  what  its  filled  columns  say, 

One  brief  line  attracts  our  notice, 

“One  more  brakeman  killed  to-day.” 

In  her  little  lonely  cottage. 

Waiting  in  the  waning  light. 

Sits  the  luckless  brakeman’s  mother, 

She  expects  her  boy  to-night; 

Someone  brings  the  fatal  message, 

God  have  mercy :  hear  her  pray 
As  she  reads  the  fearful  story, 

“Killed  while  coupling  cars  to-day.” 


Manus  H.  Perkins  began  railroad¬ 
ing  fifty-three  years  ago.  He  spent 
27  years  of  his  life  on  the  road  and 
died  December  13,  1892,  as  a  result  of 
a  fall  from  his  train  a  year  before. 
He  started  as  brakeman  in  1866  and 
after  a  couple  of  years  was  promoted 
to  conductor,  running  the  through 
freight  to  Boston,  and  in  later  years, 
the  stock  train.  For  eight  years,  up 
to  the  time  of  his  fall,  he  had  not 
missed  a  day,  and  all  his  years  of 
railroading  were  passed  on  this  road. 


George  G.  Shute  will  he  remem¬ 
bered  by  many  today.  Shute  began 
railroading  in  1880  under  Mr.  Dodge, 
for  the  old  road.  He  gradually 
climbed  the  ladder  of  promotion  and 
had  many  friends  who  knew  him  best 
along  the  line  over  which  he  run  as 
passenger  conductor.  For  a  number 
of  years  he  was  in  charge  of  one  of 
the  C.  P.  trains  between  Concord  and 
Newport,  Vt.  He  died  about  four 
years  ago.  The  Boston  Herald  one 
time  told  of  a  conversation  between 
Shute  and  a  drummer  on  his  train  as 
they  went  through  Haverhill  one  day. 
The  drummer  asked, 

“George,  why  didn’t  they  have  the 
station  over  near  the  village?” 

To  which  Shute  replied  in  his  usual 
droll  manner, 

“Because  they  wanted  it  over  here 

near  the  railroad.” 

« 


Bath,  N.  H.,  March  15,  1919. 

Brother  Caswell:  — 

I  am  interested  in  your  articles, 
Early  days  of  the  B.  C.  and  M.  R.  R. 
I  have  lived  for  60  years  on  the  line 
of  what  is  now  the  Boston  &  Maine. 
Way  back  in  the  sixties  as  a  boy,  I 
well  remember  the  old  timers. 

Weston  Lyons,  one  of  the  old 
timers  went  to  work  for  the  old  Bos¬ 
ton,  Concord  and  Montreal  R.  R.,  in 
1863  as  fireman.  In  1867  he  was  a 
full  fledged  engineer  and  worked  for 
many  years;  everybody  on  'the  line 


/ 


38 


knew  Weston.  He  is  now  at  Elk¬ 
hart,  Ind. 

With  best  wishes,  I  am, 

Very  respectfully, 

.lames  W.  Foster. 


Following  is  a  letter  from  Rev. 
William  A.  Loyne,  a  Methodist  minis¬ 
ter,  who  probably  is  better  known 
and  more  popular  among  the  railroad 
men  of  his  day  than  any  clergyman 
before  or  since.  Mr.  Loyne  is  today 
pastor  of  St.  Paul’s  Church,  Law¬ 
rence,  Mass. 

To  Mr.  Caswell: 

Dear  Sir — I  have  been  very  much 
interested  in  the  Warren  News  from 
the  day  of  its  first  issue.  It  is  to 
me  one  of  the  marvels  of  the  north 
country. 

When  you  started  in  recently  to 
print  the  correspondence  from  the 
railroad  men  and  the  brotherly  or 
sisterly  old  engines,  telling  about  the 
folks,  it  fairly  made  me  long  for  the 
week  to  come  round  when  the  next 
issue  would  be  out  like  boys  waiting 
for  the  coming  of  the  morning  to  see 
what  would  be  said.  How  real-like 
it  has  all  seemed  to  me. 

I  first  became  acquainted  with  the 
men  and  the  old-time  engines  in  1881. 
My  experience  has  been  growing  and 
my  knowledge  of  the  road  and  the 
folks  has  been  very  pleasant  indeed. 

It  was  in  the  spring  of  1S85  that  T 
first  came  in  touch  with  the  men  and 
the  old  smoke  stacks  and  the  polished 
work  of  the  engines. 

I  never  thought  as  much  about  the 
machines  as  I  have  of  the  men.  The 
first  man  whom  I  learned  to  know 
and  regard  was  Will  F.  True,  the 
agent  for  so  many  years  at  East  Ha¬ 
verhill,  now  Oliverean.  Every  rail¬ 
road  man  who  passed  that  way  knew 
that  brother  would  be  on  his  job.  He 
was  one  of  the  most  faithful  men  I 
ever  knew.  There  was  Charles  Simp¬ 
son,  known  in  his  day  all  up  and 
down  the  road.  He  was  an  express¬ 


man,  or  in  the  car  in  charge  of  the 
express.  Charles  was  one  of  the 
roughest  men  on  the  outside,  prided 
himself  on  his  rough  speech,  but  he 
was  white  inside.  When  he  was  on 
his  dying  bed  he  sent  a  message  to 
me  to  know  if  T  would  come  from 
Colebrook  to  preach  his  funeral  ser¬ 
mon.  which  I  promised  to  do.  When 
Charles  was  buried  from  the  old 
church  there  was  a  crowd  from  all 
parts.  A  special  train  was  run  in 
charge  of  the  whitest  man  on  the 
railroad,  Supt.  Ed.  Mann.  When  the 
service  was  read  at  the  grave  it  was 
a  beautiful  sight  to  see  a  large  crowd 
of  railroad  men  standing  about  the 
open  grave.  Mr.  Sam  Paige  assisted 
me  in  reading  the  ritual.  Tt  was 
there  I  learned  to  love  railroad  men. 

Another  of  my  old  friends  was 
George  Shiite,  conductor.  What  a  pe¬ 
culiar  man  he  was!  But  who  ever 
knew  a  bigger  hearted  brother  when 
you  touched  the  right  cord. 

There  was  Herb  G-ale,  white  as  a 
hound’s  tooth.  Herb  came  down  to 
East  Haverhill  to  meet  his  lady.  Miss 
Minnie  Merrill,  and  they  came  to  the 
parsonage  to  be  married.  After  the 
wedding  they  started  off  up  the  road, 
as  Herb  said  to  take  the  old  road 
back  by  the  Center.  About  fifteen 
minutes  afterward  back  he  came,  and 
said:  “My  soul,  Elder,  I  forgot  to  kiss 
the  cook,”  and  he  handed  me  a  ten 
dollar  gold  piece,  and  started  off 
again. 

When  I  think  for  a  moment  of  my 
old  friend,  Frank  Johnson.  How  the 
boys  did  like  Frank!  He  was  my 
neighbor  in  Woods vi lie ;  and  at  Con¬ 
cord,  I  finally  laid  him  to  rest.  What 
a  splendid  railroad  man  he  wras!  He 
died  as  he  lived, — a  clean,  true  and 
helpful  brother. 

Time  would  fail  me  to  tell  of  the 
men  of  yesterday. 


There  was  my  old  friend  of  many 
years,  who  prided  himself  in  747 — old 
747.  It  was  Milo,  and  there  was  only 
one  Milo.  “I  like  747,  Elder,  she 
rides  hard,  but  she  makes  time  and 
she  is  sure.”  Poor  Milo,  we  all  wish 
that  he  might  be  strong  again,  but  the 
fountain  of  the  great  deep  has  broken 
up. 

I  have  had  old  friends  among  the 
highest- ups,  who  have  done  many 
things  out  of  sight.  There  was  Gov. 
Fred  Smithe  of  Manchester,  the  presi¬ 
dent  of  the  road,  and  Frank  Brown, 


39 

year,  and  I  hope  to  meet  them  in  the 
land  that  is  fairer  than  day. 

Yours  respectfully, 

W.  A.  Loyne. 

26  Wyman  St.,  Lawrence,  Mass. 


Next  comes  a  letter  from  Mrs.  C.  D. 
White,  “Grammie  White,”  as  the  boys 
used  to  call  her.  Mrs.  White  is  the 
mother  of  the  late  Frank  P.  White, 
who  for  many  years  was  connected 
with  the  old  road  as  telegraph  opera¬ 
tor,  and  later  train  dispatcher.  Frank 
White  went  through  life  minus  his 


One  of  the  first  passenger  trains  to  run  into  Fabyans  in  the  early  70’s. 


the  agent,  and  Mr.  Cummings  of 
Woodsville  and  others,  who  never  re¬ 
fused  me  a  favor  for  the  sick  or  needy 
•whenever  I  asked  them. 

My  old  friend,  Tom  Taylor,  yet 
with  us,  who  contributed  the  first 
dollar  toward  the  cottage  hospital, 
and  a  bunch  of  railroad  men  made 
the  first  public  subscription  toward 
the  same. 

My  friendship  and  deep  regard  for 
railroad  men  has  grown  with  the 


right  arm.  The  member  was  severed 
when  he  was  19  by  the  old  “bumpers” 
while  coupling  cars  at  West  Rumnev. 
White  afterwards  learned  to  telegraph 
and  died  at  the  age  of  59  years. 
Grammie  White  was  left  a  widow 
thirty  years  ago  and  in  her  advanced 
years  is  remarkably  smart,  takes  in 
washings  and  finds  time  to  enter  into 
social  life  of  the  village.  She  is  85 
years  of  age  and  has  lived  just  south 
of  Wentworth  village  within  twenty- 


) 


six  feet  of  the  railroad  ever  since  the 
road  was  built  through  the  town. 

Wentworth,  March  3rd,  1919. 
Friend  Caswell: 

You  are  publishing  interesting  arti¬ 
cles  on  the  things  which  happened 
on  the  B.,  C.  and  M.  railroad  years 
ago.  I  am  much  pleased  to  learn  of 
so  many  old  acquaintances  which  it 
was  my  good  fortune  to  know  person¬ 
ally.  One  instance,  in  particular,  was 
when  Henry  Mann,  some  40  years  ago 
was  conductor  on  the  stock  train. 
When  the  train  was  only  a  few  rods 
above  the  station  it  was  noticed  that 
some  of  the  cattle  were  having  a 
skirmish  and  when  they  got  down  to 
White’s  crossing  opposite  my  house, 
one  succeeded  in  pushing  another 
through  the  rack  of  the  car,  and  as 
he  went  out,  he  swung  against  a  sig¬ 
nal  post  and  rolled  under  the  train. 
It  was  in  the  month  of  February 
when  the  snow  had  become  so  hard 
outside  the  rails,  that  when  it  hit  the 
creature  it  threw  the  cars  off  the 
track.  I  ran  out  to  see  what  I  could 
do,  and  saw  the  cars  were  off  the  iron. 
I  looked  up  the  street  and  a  man  was 
coming  with  team.  I  motioned  him 
to  stop  and  I  got  a  knife  for  him  to 
bleed  the  creature,  and  asked  him  to 
hurry  to  the  station  and  notify  the 
express,  which  was  nearly  due.  He 
did  so  and  also  notified  a  butcher  who 
lived  near  the  station.  The  butcher 
was  Daniel  Oolby,  father  of  Engineer 
Bert  Colby.  After  I  had  done  all  I 
could,  I  looked  down  the  track  and 
saw  Mr.  Mann  and  owner  of  the  beef 
coming  post  haste  with  an  axe.  I 
soon  found  that  the  train  had  been 
wrecked  at  the  first  twin  bridge; 
when  it  hit  the  bare  sleepers,  it 
caused  the  cars  to  go  off  the  iron,  and 
butter,  potatoes  and  a  variety  of  other 
merchandise  were  all  in  a  heap.  It 
took  until  midnight  to  right  the  track 
ready  for  trains  to  go  over.  Mr. 
Mann  gave  me  a  compliment  for  my 
thoughtfulness.  That  was  one  of  my 


40 

experiences  since  living  here  beside 
the  track. 

The  next  was  when  they  used  the 
old  couplings  and  often  a  freight 
would  be  broken  apart,  sometimes 
in  three  sections;  but  on  this  par¬ 
ticular  morning  it  was  quite  early 
so  the  conductor  had  his  lantern 
still  burning,  and  as  I  watched  to 
see  if  they  came  to  a  stop,  I  saw' 
him  drop  with  his  lantern.  As  the 
train  went  under  the  bridge  his 
back  was  towards  the  “head  end”, 
and  he  did  not  see  his  danger.  My 
husband  and  I  hurried  to  the  scene. 
I  took  a  quilt  to  use  in  case  of  need, 
but  before  I  reached  the  scene,  I 
saw  a  rubber  in  one  place,  a  glove 
in  another,  and  pieces  of  skull  scat¬ 
tered  about  and  it  made  me  sick  at 
heart.  Mr.  White  took  the  place  to 
get  him  out  of  the  wheel  where  his 
clothes  had  been  wound  in  with  his 
body.  After  a  long  while  he  was 
taken  out,  the  body  mutilated  beyond 
recognition. 

When  the  big  washout  occurred 
just  south  of  the  station,  when  two 
engines  went  into  the  ditch,  it  was  a 
narrow  escape  for  the  engineers  and 
fireman.  Henry  Mann  was  conduc¬ 
tor  and  he  was  on  top  of  a  car  and 
saw  through  the  fog  that  the  track 
was  settled;  he  gave  warning  as 
soon  as  possible.  The  engineers  and 
firemen  jumped  for  their  lives  and 
landed  in  the  brook  catching  hold  of 
bushes  to  save  themselves.  Car- 
loads  of  apples  and  other  things 
were  washed  down  the  brook  and 
rails  covered  completely  out  of 
sight.  Young  nurseries  grew  up 
from  the  buried  apples  in  several 
places.  The  brook  was  covered  with 
a  trestle  work  and  it  was  very  easy 
to  undermine  with  the  large  amount 
of  water.  It  ruined  the  farm  then 
owned  by  a  man  named  Milo  Aiken. 
Sand  and  rocks  were  most  all  there 
was  to  be  seen.  It  was  43  years 
ago  and  I  do  not  recall  the  train- 


41 


men’s  names.  It  was  a  very  narrow 
escape  that  none  were  hurt  or  killed. 

I  want  to  mention  one  more  bit  of 
experience  which  happened  in  the 
month  of  January.  I  think  it  was 
before  the  large  snow  plough  came 
in  use.  A  terrible  blizzard  had  been 
raging  for  two  days  and  a  large 
crew  of  men  had  shoveled  at  the  de¬ 
pot  to  keep  the  yard  passable.  .  On 
this  day  just  as  the  sun  went  down, 
Mr.  White  came  home  from  the  sta¬ 
tion  where  he  had  worked  all  day, 
and  said  he  didn’t  know  as  they 
would  be  able  to  get  through  at 
present.  There  was  a  large  drift 
just  north  of  the  house  and  Mr. 
White  said  he  hoped  he  would  not 
have  to  go  out  again  that  night  for 
it  was  growing  colder  and  the  wind 
blew  fierce.  I  said  I  hear  them  com¬ 
ing  into  the  big  drift  and  then  hur¬ 
ried  into  my  west  room  to  look  and 
the  three  engines  were  doing  their 
best  and  in  an  instant — crash!  went 
the  window  behind  me,  and  glass, 
sash  and  draperies  were  buried  in 
four  feet  of  snow  in  my  sitting  room. 
Just  as  Mr.  White  came  to  the  door, 
the  crash  came.  Had  he  been  one 
second  sooner  no  doubt  he  would 
have  been  killed.  I  managed  to  get 
over  the  snow  filled  with  glass  and 
•sash  and  then  the  snow  had  to  be 
shoveled  out  and  a  thick  quilt  was 
nailed  up  for  the  night.  In  the 
morning  we  took  off  a  double  wind¬ 
ow  and  nailed  over  the  smashed 
window  until  we  could  send  to  Lake 
Village  for  a  new  window.  It  re¬ 
quires  care  and  some  nerve  to  live 
within  26  feet  of  a  railroad  crossing. 
Many  times  people  have  come  near 
being  run  over  at  this  crossing  and 
trains  have  many  times  come  to  a 
full  stop  in  order  to  save  lives.  I 
have  fought  fires  to  save  buildings, 
and  have  shed  tears  to  see  my  pet 
dogs  and  cats  and  flocks  of  chickens 
and  hens  killed,  but  have  survived  to 
go  through  many  scenes,  unpleasant 


though  they  were;  but  am  thankful 
after  fifty  years  of  all  this,  to  be 
alive  to  tell  the  story  at  the  age  of 
84  years,  young. 

A  letter  from  my  grandson,  Guy 
B.  White,  Montpelier,  Vt.,  oldest  son 
of  Frank  P.  White,  says  he  is  think¬ 
ing  of  33  years  ago  now,  when  he 
went  with  his  father  to  Concord  and 
Mr.  White  and  myself  came  back 
with  them.  We  started  from  Con¬ 
cord  about  3  p.  m.  It  had  been 
snowing  a  few  hours  and  still  snow¬ 
ing  harder.  When  we  reached  Ply¬ 
mouth  it  was  reported  that  a  heavy 
freight  train  was  stalled  at  Spauld¬ 
ing’s  crossing  in  Rumney  and  it 
would  be  impossible  to  get  through 
that  night,  and  it  was  a  busy  night. 
Frank  hired  a  room  with  two  beds 
in  the  Pemigewassett  house  and  the 
little  boys  and  I  were  made  comfort¬ 
able  for  the  night.  The  next  day 
was  Town  Meeting  day  but  the  train 
did  not  reach  Wentworth  until  7  p. 
m.,  next  night.  The  storm  turned 
into  a  blizzard  which  the  boys  will 
remember  as  long  as  life  lasts. 
Frank  White  helped  in  the  telegraph 
office  through  the  night.  There 
have  been  great  improvements  in 
getting  trains  over  such  obstacles  as 
those  of  40  years  ago. 

Respectfully  yours, 

Mrs.  C.  D.  White. 


Suncook,  N.  H.,  Feb.  24,  1919. 

C.  E.  Caswell : 

I  wish  Mr.  William  Kimball  was 
living  to  tell  a  little  of  his  life  on 
the  road.  I  am  sure  a  man  who  put 
in  over  40  years  as  he  did,  must 
have  seen  some  good  things.  He 
told  a  party  of  friends  one  time  of 
the  fast  run  he  made  from  Plymouth 
to  Woodsville.  He  had  a  young  chap 
who  wanted  to  be  kind  of  smart,  who 
was  conductor  on  that  train  up  and 
back  one  day,  so  when  he  would 
come  out  to  give  the  signal  lie  would 
say  to  Kimball,  “Well,  Bill,  don’t  go 


42 


to  sleep.”  Kimball  said  he  had 
heard  it  enough,  so  after  a  few  sta¬ 
tions  he  opened  her  up,  and  when 
they  got  to  the  Summit  the  young 
chap  came  along  and  says,  “For  G — 
sake  don’t  run  so  fast.”  “I  shan’t 
go  to  sleep”,  says  Bill.  He  thought 
it  was  the  best  time  he  ever  made, 
but  that  settled  the  going  to  sleep 
question  after  that.  The  young  man 
was  heard  telling  a  friend  of  his 
what  fast  time  they  made  on  that 
road.  He  said,  “We  left  Plymouth 
one  night  20  minutes  late  and  got  in¬ 
to  Woodsville  on  time.” 

I  think  Mr.  John  Marsh  could  re¬ 
late  some  good  ones  if  he  felt  like 
it,  and  I  hope  to  hear  him  tell  of  his 
run  into  the  washout  at  Wentworth. 

Am  not  writing  this  for  publica¬ 
tion  but  I  like  to  hear  the  good 
things  about  the  old  B.,  C.  &  M.,  and 
the  good  old  times  I  have  seen  there. 

J.  EAMES. 


If  Uncle  John  Marsh  were  living 
today  he  would  be  about  a  hundred 
years  old.  Uncle  John  many  years 
ago  went  on  his  long  vacation.  The 
washout  at  Wentworth  was  43  years 
ago.  Uncle  John  jumped  into  the 
stream,  was  carried  quite  a  distance 
in  the  swift  current  and  saved  his 
life  by  grasping  some  bushes  beside 
the  stream.  He  told  the  boys  the 
Lord  put  the  bushes  there  to  save 
his  life.  Mention  is  made  of  this 
circumstance  earlier  in  the  article. 
The  Moosehillock  and  Franconia 
were  badly  wrecked  at  that  time.... 
John  Marsh;,  Sr.,  formerly  worked 
for  the  road  and  run  the  Mt.  Wash¬ 
ington  summers  between  the  Base 
and  Fabyans.  If  he  is  yet  living  is 
not  known  to  the  writer,  but  it  is 
quite  probable  he  is  not. 


Ralph  Adams  was  many  years 
master  mechanic  with  headquarters 
at  Lakeport.  Mr.  Adams  was  an 
unusually  good  man,  a  skilled  me¬ 


chanic,  respected  by  all  the  boys; 
and  the  directors  and  officials  of  the 
road  had  implicit  confidence  in 
Ralph  Adams.  As  a  citizen  he  was 
held  in  high  esteem.  Clarence  W. 
Adams,  his  son,  is  now  stationed  at 
Tilton, 


It  seems  that  I  never  could  tire  of 
writing  about  the  old  days  of  wood 
burners,  hand  brakes  and  link  coup¬ 
lings,  along  with  the  old  timers  who 
made  railroad  history  three  score 
years  ago,  for  certainly,  “They 
builded  better  than  they  knew,”  as 
has  already  been  said. 


In  early  railroad  days  when  loco¬ 
motives  were  designated  by  names, 
usually  this  name  was  printed  on 
the  sides  of  the  cab  in  shining  gilt 
letters,  people  living  near  railroads 
seemed  to  take  a  real  interest  in  the 
various  engines.  We  boys  of  two 
score  or  more  years  ago  were  very 
enthusiastic  over  them.  Not  only 
did  we  know  by  name  all  the  loco¬ 
motives  that  came  into  this  vicinity, 
but  could  tell  of  the  approach  of  any 
particular  one  by  the  sound  of  its 
bell  or  whistle.  The  new  locomo¬ 
tives,  each  larger  and  more  ornate 
than  the  older  ones,  were  viewed  by 
us  with  critical  but  approving  eye. 


In  early  days  of  the  road,  the  pas¬ 
senger  cars  were  so  poorly  lighted 
at  night  that  a  person  sitting  at  one 
end  of  the  car  could  not  tell  whether 
or  not  there  were  any  passengers  at 
the  other  end.  The  only  means  of 
lighting  in  those  days  were  two  fee¬ 
ble  oil  lamps,  one  at  each  end  of 
the  car.  But  though  a  passenger 
could  not  read  in  the  car  at  night 
and  had  to  commune  with  himself 
or  talk  with  a  neighbor  whom  per¬ 
haps  he  could  not  see;  though  his 
spine  were  almost  broken  by  the  low- 
backed  seats,  and  though  in  winter 


43 


his  feet  were  half-frozen  from  the 
inability  of  the  single  wood-stove  to 
successfully  attack  the  cold  drafts 
that  came  in  around  the  windows; — 
though  the  passenger  suffered  these 
discomforts,  yet  he  had  the  satis¬ 
faction  of  knowing  that  his  train 
was  proceeding  on  its  way  with  a 
due  regard  for  the  outward  glories, 
for  the  locomotive  was  radiant  with 
burnished  brass  and  ornate  decora¬ 
tions. 

I  recollect  how  forty  years  ago  I 
used  to  help  “wood-up”  the  old 
Duffe,  Lady,  Paugus  and  the  other 
helpers,  being  rewarded  with  a  ride 
by  many  of  the  obliging  engineers, 
whose  names  have  been  mentioned 
elsewhere  in  this  article.  How  the 
memory  of  those  old  “tubs”  linger 
with  me,  with  their  swell  topper 
stacks  and  brass  mountings.  The 
interior  of  the  cabs  is  fresh  in  my 
memory. 

The  old  time  engineers  seemed  to 
have  a  real  affection  for  their  ma¬ 
chine;  an  affection  which  the  mod¬ 
ern  engine  does  not  seem  to  evoke. 
Perhaps  this  may  be  imaginary,  but 
the  old-time  knight  of  the  throttle 
seems  to  delight  in  recalling  ex¬ 
periences  with  these  interesting  old 
locomotives.  I  recollect  one  en¬ 
gineer  who  had  handled  a  locomotive 
for  forty  years,  and  the  last  few 
years  of  his  railroad  life,  practically 
the  same  machine;  when  he  per¬ 
formed  his  last  day’s  work  as  en¬ 
gineer  and  left  his  engine  in  her 
stall  at  the  round  house,  cried  like 
a  child. 

There  came  a  time,  however,  in 
the  progress  of  railroad  utilitarian¬ 
ism  when  it  seemed  wise  to  drop 
the  names  and  henceforth  to  desig¬ 
nate  the  'locomotives  merely  by  num¬ 
ber.  A  pretty  romance  of  the  rail 
then  passed  away.  Engines  which 
seemed  to  be  real  living  things  lost 
their  names.  No  sentiment  attaches 
to  a  number,  and  when  all  the  old 


familiar  names  were  lost  in  cold  and 
unsuggestive  numerals,  and  when, 
later,  the  glories  of  polished  steel 
and  shining  brass  and  showy  gold- 
leaf  gave  way  to  sober  hues  that  re¬ 
quired  less  attention,  then  did  the 
locomotive,  losing  all  its  distinctive¬ 
ness,  and,  differing  little  in  appear¬ 
ance  from  other  locomotives,  de¬ 
generate  into  a  mere  piece  of  mech¬ 
anism. 

As  time  went  on,  after  the  Cho- 
corua  had  been  equipped  with  an 
air  brake  and  successfully  tried  out, 
other  passenger  engines  were  fitted 
out  with  the  Westinghouse  brake 
system  and  all  the  engineers  given 
a  schooling  in  handling  it. 

“The  air  brake  did  it.”  Whenever 
a  heoric  act  was  done  by  the  boys 
it  was  not  for  honor  or  laurels.  One 
summer  morning  a  passenger  train 
was  speeding  along  the  lake  side, 
made  a  curve,  at  the  end  of  which 
another  was  in  sight,  winding  to  the 
left  and  from  that  a  cottage  home 
stood  in  the  shadow  of  the  foliage 
casting  reflections  in  the  crystal 
lake  of  Winnipesaukee.  The  en¬ 
gineer  excitedly  exclaimed:  “A  child 
on  the  track!”  and  applied  the  air. 
At  the  exclamation  the  fireman 
sprang  from  his  seat,  glanced  down 
the  track,  his  face  became  pallid. 
A  child  perhaps  three  years  old 
stood  midway  between  the  rails  and 
not  a  hundred  yards  from  the  engine, 
facing  the  on-coming  train  waving 
its  little  hands,  as  it  was  wont  to  do 
from  its  mother’s  arms  perhaps,  at 
the  passing  of  the  cars.  As  the  air 
was  applied  this  noble-hearted  fire¬ 
man,  a  lad  in  his  teens  almost 
pitched  through  the  glass  window 
in  front.  At  the  same  moment  there 
was  a  scream,  a  woman’s  voice,  and 
with  arms  aloft  and  face  paralyzed 
with  terror  the  mother  stood  upon 
the  steps  of  her  cottage.  Quicker 
than  it  requires  to  tell  it,  the  train 
was  bearing  down  upon  the  child — 


44 


i 

not  twenty  yards  from  the  engine, 
which  under  the  pressure  of  the  air¬ 
brake,  was  bumping  and  jolting  fu¬ 
riously.  The  fireman’s  seat  was 
vacant,  the  engineer  was  a'lone  in 
the  cab,  a  vest  and  gold  watch  lie  in 
front  of  the  firebox  door;  the  pilot 
was  within  twenty  feet  of  the  child, 
the  train  still  in  motion,  too  rapidly 
to  be  checked  before  reaching  it! 
The  engineer  closed  his  eyes,  his 
heart  stood  still  at  that  instant. 
Again  the  mother’s  heart-rending 
scream,  and  the  engineer  opened  his 
eyes  to  see  the  child  tossed  several 
feet  into  the  lake!  Thirty  feet  more 
and  the  train  was  stopped.  The  en¬ 
gineer  stepped  into  the  gangway, 
looked  out  into  the  lake  and  saw 
struggling  in  the  water  the  fireman, 
Andrew  J.  Pike,  holding  in  his  arms 
the  child,  supporting  its  tiny  form 
above  the  water,  swimming  towards 
shore.  That  mother’s  joy  could 
never  be  expressed!  While  the  train 
was  bearing  down  on  the  child,  Pike 
had  instantly  thrown  off  his  vest 
and  climbed  along  the  running  board 
to  the  pilot  hoping  to  grasp  the 
child  before  the  locomotive  struck 
the  frail  body,  but  too  late;  the 
little  form  was  tossed  into  the  lake 
but  not  seriously  injured.  After  the 
child  had  been  restored  safely  to  its 
mother,  the  train  crew  and  passen¬ 
gers  climbed  back,  and  the  train 
proceeded  on  its  way.  A  trembling 
hand  pulled  the  throttle  which  start¬ 
ed  the  engine,  puffing  and  hissing 
until  it  was  going  at  full  speed 
again.  Not  a  word  did  the  men  in 
the  cab  speak  to  each  other  for  some 
moments.  They  were  each  doing 
their  duty  before  God  and  man. 
The  heoric  act  of  that  fireman  was 
talked  of  for  many  days,  but  An¬ 
drew  Pike  was  not  “puffed  up”  be¬ 
cause  of  it,  and  simply  did  what  he 
could,  realizing  that  it  was  not  en¬ 
tirely  his  own  efforts,  but  those  of 
the  steady  hand  and  nerve  of  the 


engineer,  more  particularly  “the  air 
brake  that  did  it.”  Mr.  Pike  is  one 
of  the  few  old  B.,  C.  &  M.,  men  on 
the  system  today,  and  has  for  many 
years  been  a  trusty  engineer. 


A  circumstance  is  told  of  while 
Eastman’s  train  was  speeding  be¬ 
tween  Lake  Village  and  Meredith 
one  early  morning  the  engineer  re¬ 
ceived  a  bell  rope  signal  to  stop, 
and  did  so.  The  conductor  said  he 
had  given  no  signal,  the  brakeman 
neither  had  given  any  signal,  but 
the  baggage  master  and  expressman 
explained  that  a  rooster  had  es¬ 
caped  from  a  crate  of  live  poultry 
in  the  express  car  and  lighted  on  the 
bell  cord,  his  weight  sounding  the 
signal  in  the  cab. 


As  by  this  time  is  well  known,  the 
earliest  locomotives  were  wood  burn¬ 
ers,  with  smoke  stacks  many  times 
larger  than  those  now  in  use,  as  will 
be  seen  in  the  several  illustrations. 
In  the  early  railroad  days  the  road 
used  approximately  30,000  cords  of 
wood  a  year.  This  wood  was  gotten 
off  the  company’s  own  land  in  close 
proximity  to  the  right  of  way.  Ar¬ 
thur  Knapp  of  Warren  was  a  leading 
wood  contractor  for  the  old  road 
and  employed  large  gangs  of  men 
in  various  localities  along  the  line. 
Wood  was  also  bought  of  the  natives 
whoever  desired  to  land  it  beside 
the  track.  $2.50  a  cord  was  the  av¬ 
erage  price  paid.  My  grandfather 
used  to  have  charge  of  a  hundred 
men  on  wood  trains  caring  for  the 
road  under  direction  of  Mr.  Knapp. 
Qbediah  G.  Smith  of  Plymouth  had 
several  gangs  sawing  wood  at  va¬ 
rious  places  along  the  line.  At  first 
the  old  tread  horse-power  was  used; 
later  an  antiquated  hot  air  compres¬ 
sion  engine,  and  then  the  Baxter 
steam  engine.  The  wood-sawing 
crews  lived  in  boarding  cars  and 
were  moved  from  one  siding  to  an- 


45 

other  where  there  was  wood  to  be 
sawed.  Over  Warren  Summit,  with 
a  grade  of  96  feet  to  the  mile  was 
an  up-hill  haul  and  required  fuel 
and  steam.  There  were  two  wood¬ 
sheds  on  top  of  the  hill  and  four 
within  two  miles  of  each  other  down 
the  line  a  couple  of  miles,  with  one 
at  East  Haverhill.  In  fact  there 
was  a  shed  at  about  every  station 
along  the  line.  The  writer  remem¬ 
bers,  that  even  back  as  late  as  the 
seventies,  when  he  was  a  tender  and 
shrinking  youngster,  the  fuel  sup¬ 
plied  to  the  old  wood  burners  run¬ 
ning  between  Concord  and  Woods- 
ville.  There  used  to  be  a  treadmill 
sawing  machine  in  the  woodshed  at 
East  Haverhill  across  the  track  op¬ 
posite  the  present  passenger  sta¬ 
tion.  Here  the  station  agent  sawed 
wood.  My  first  recollection  of  the 
outfit  was  the  horse  power  and  old 
white  horse.  At  Warren  there  was 
another  wood  sawing  outfit  run  by 
water  power.  This  outfit  was  in  the 
slied  adjoining  the  water  tank  and 
engine  house  which  were  opposite 
the  railroad  buildings.  Later  the 
water  failed  to  be  sufficient  power 
and  a  stationary  steam  engine  and 
boiler  were  installed  to  saw  wood 
and  pump  water  for  the  locomotives. 
Wood  was  carried  from  towns  up 
and  down  the  line  and  sawed  here; 
large  quantities  of  it  for  the  fussy 
little  engines  to  eat  up  and  spit  out 
in  smoke  and  cinders.  The  sound 
of  the  saw  was  for  years  a  familiar 
one  hereabouts  in  those  days  as  it 
operated  to  supply  the  hungry  loco¬ 
motives  with  fuel. 


An  interesting  letter  follows  be¬ 
low.  This  letter  was  written  by 
William  H.  Durant  of  Somerville, 
Mass'.  Will  Durant  was  a  lad  in  the 
old  wood  burning  days.  His  father 
kept  a  boarding  house  at  Wells 
River,  Vt.,  just  across  the  river  from 
Woodsville  and  many  of  the  railroad 


men  boarded  there  in  the  early  B., 
C.  &  M.  days. 

C.  E.  Caswell, 

Warren,  N.  H. 

Dear  Sir: 

Complying  with  your  courteous  re¬ 
quest  dated  March  17th  with  pleas¬ 
ure  I  recall  old  B.,  C.  &  M.  days;  for 
among  the  names  mentioned  in  a 
reminiscent  way  in  “The  News”  you 
mailed,  ex-mayor  George  E.  Hutch¬ 
ins  of  Berlin,  N.  H.,  is  spoken  of.  It 
was  at  the  age  of  seven  that  I  re¬ 
call  my  first  experience  in  listening 
to  railroad  parlance  and  as  time 
passed  verbal  knowledge  of  rail¬ 
roading  increased  at  the  “Old  Hotel” 
at  Wells  River,  where  many  of  the 
boys  boarded. 

If  a  good  word  can  be  spoken  of 
the  veteran  railroad  man,  why  not 
say  it?  None  more  than  he  was  sub¬ 
ject  to  requests  for  simple  favors, 
and  no  body  of  men  more  willing  to 
grant  them,  anticipating  no  hope  of 
reward. 

Recalling  the  names  of  Conduc¬ 
tors  Ferguson,  Rollins,  Butler,  East¬ 
man,  White,  Mooney  and  Engineers 
Drake,  Sargent,  Hutchins,  Ayers, 
Ferguson,  Burleigh,  Annis,  Swasey, 
Cawley,  Adams,  Kimball,  Clifford, 
Bailey  and  many  more  railroad  men 
from  whom  I  never  received  an  un¬ 
kind  word,  amusing  episodes  pre¬ 
sent  themselves.  Like  many  inquis¬ 
itive  Yankee  boys,  my  first  question 
was,  “Can  an  engine  puff  when  the 
whistle  blows?”  The  old  round 
house  where  Superintendent  Cum¬ 
mings  was  then  employed  at  Woods¬ 
ville,  had  a  crank-operated  turn 
table  which  concealed  the  pit  by 
flooring  and  there  was  a  stationary 
engine  for  running  machinery,  both 
of  great  wonderment,  but  I  was  non¬ 
plussed  when  told  the  inside-connec¬ 
ted  locomotive,  Elkins,  “didn’t  have 
any  cylinders  for  the  pistons  run  in 
the  smoke  box!” 


46 


I  well  remember  Ike  Sanborn,  en¬ 
gineer  on  the  “Mountain  Maid”. 
With  much  curiosity  we  youngsters 
would  look  for  rings  of  smoke  from 
her  odd  shaped  diamond  stack  when 
the  train  started  for  Littleton.  Mr. 
Sanborn’s  long  and  successful  rail¬ 
road  career  ended  as  engine-house 
foreman  on  the  Concord  road  at 
Concord. 

Orrin  Bailey  was  a  happy-go-lucky 
fellow  as  a  fireman  and  it  was  a  com¬ 
mon  saying  that  he  never  would  be¬ 
come  an  engineer.  Sam  Cawley  was 
dignified  and  well-favored. 

With  John  Butler,  conductor  of 
the  cattle  train,  in  the  spring  of  1869 
I  had  my  first  real  ride  on  a  rail¬ 
road.  George  Hutchins,  engineer, 
running  the  Pehaugun  invited  me  to 
ride  with  him  a  part  of  the  trip,  and 
when  I  alighted  at  Lake  Village  no 
youth  felt  prouder  of  a  journey. 
About  a  year  later  George  Eastman, 
whom  the  traveling  public  much  es¬ 
teemed,  invited  me  to  get  another 
boy  and  ride  up  the  mountain  road. 
The  train  left  about  sunrise  and  re¬ 
turned  to  Woodsville  at  8.30  p.  m. 
There  was  considerable  delay  un¬ 
loading  logs  at  North  Lisbon  on  the 
return  trip,  where  all  hands  helped. 
My  chum  became  a  bit  frightened, 
for  the  lights  in  the  car  were  dim, 
snow  was  falling  and  home  anxiety 
was  manifest  in  us  both.  Smith 
Clark  was  brakeman  on  the  train. 
Henry  White  later  run  this  train. 

To  conclude  I  wish  to  mention  the 
name  of  an  old  B.  C.  &  M.  fireman,  a 
Civil  War  veteran,  general  locomo¬ 
tive  and  engine  house  foreman  at 
Concord,  whom  I  worked  under 
fourteen  years.  The  funeral  service 
of  Porter  Crane  was  February  16th 
last  which  I  attended.  A  faithful 
and  skilled  mechanic,  a  true  Chris¬ 
tian  man!  To  Mrs.  Hutchins  and  in 
affectionate  memory  for  Mrs.  Clark, 
and  Mrs.  Clifford,  who,  I  as  a  god¬ 


son,  many  times,  looked  to,  a  final 
word  of  appreciation  is  added. 

Yours  truly, 
WM.  H.  DURANT. 

Somerville,  Mass.,  March  21,  1919. 


The  James  N.  Elkins  was  run  one 
summer  on  a  gravel  train  minus 
her  cab,  which  was  torn  away  by 
backing  under  a  guy  wire  support¬ 
ing  a  derrick  where  a  culvert  was 
being  rebuilt. 


In  the  early  days  the  firemen  had 
to  go  out  on  the  front  end  to  oil  the 
valves.  This  had  to  be  done  at 
least  every  twenty  miles. 


George  Randall,  “Bobbie”  as  he 
was  nicknamed,  had  a  mania  for 
oiling.  He  almost  invariably  car¬ 
ried  an  oil  can  about  with  him  when 
on  duty.  Many  times  he  would 
stop  on  the  road  between  stations 
and  oil.  His  locomotive  never  had 
to  go  to  the  shop  for  lack  of  oil  and 
he  was  a  good  and  faithful  employee. 


Fred  Whiting  says  when  he  en¬ 
tered  the  service  $1.42  a  day  was  the 
price  paid  firemen,  with  no  over 
time.  All  time  over  twenty-four 
hours  was  reckoned  on  the  follow¬ 
ing  day,  and  they  would  work  near¬ 
ly  every  Sunday  cleaning  and  pol- 
v  ishing  the  brass  about  their  ma¬ 
chines  without  pay.  They  took 
pride  in  the  appearance  of  their  en¬ 
gines. 


But  eight  engineers  are  running 
today  who  were  running  in  1882 — 
thirty-seven  years  ago. 


The  worst  wreck  in  the  history  of 
the  road  up  to  that  time  occurred 
in  the  spring  of  1882,  when  twenty- 
two  loaded  cars  run  back  down  the 
hill,  colliding  with  the  way  freight 
in  North  Haverhill  yard.  Conduc¬ 
tor  George  Stone  and  his  brakeman 


47 


were  in  the  caboose  asleep.  The 
way  freight  crew  heard  the  cars 
coming  down  through  the  woods  op¬ 
posite  the  Keyes  farm  and  had  an 
opportunity  to  save  themselves. 
The  crash  came  and  thirty  seconds 
later  there  was  the  greatest  pile  of 
junk  the  road  had  ever  had  on  its 
hands.  The  Granite  State  was  haul¬ 
ing  the  way  freight  in  charge  of  En¬ 
gineer  Whiting.  She  was  hurled 
completely  over  a  fence,  bottom  side 
up  with  the  dead  body  of  Conductor 
Stone  crushed  between  the  steam 
dome  and  sand  box.  He  was  killed 
instantly,  as  was  likewise  the  brake- 
man  who  was  found  in  a  box  car  of 
the  way  freight  two  cars  back.  He 
was  thrown  from  inside  their  buggy, 
over  the  way  freight  engine  and  in¬ 
to  a  wrecked  car  two  back  in  the 
other  train  in  an  instant  so  great 
was  the  impact.  Arthur  Knapp  was 
at  Haverhill  station  waiting  for  the 
way  freight  when  the  cars  passed 
through  there  and  said  they  were 
certainly  going  70  miles  an  hour. 
He  said  in  three  minutes  he  heard 
the  collision  distinctly  in  the  morn¬ 
ing  air,  four  miles  away.  The  way 
freight  crew  as  a  whole  had  a  nar¬ 
row  escape,  and  a  fireman  by  the 
name  of  Fellows  was  so  badly 
frightened  that  he  resigned  when 
he  arrived  at  the  terminal.  This 
locomotive  (Granite  State)  was  re¬ 
paired  at  a  cost  of  about  $3,000  and 
did  freight  work  for  a  number  of 
years  after.  There  was  another 
Granite  State  spoken  of  in  one  of 
Mr.  Cummings’  letters  as  being  de¬ 
molished  at  Sanborn’s  track  by  a 
freight  engine  side-sweeping  her, 
'coming  out  from  Loon  pond  one 
morning. 

Speaking  of  Sanborn’s  track 
brings  to  mind  an  old  time  stone 
mason  and  contractor  “Jarve”  San¬ 
born  who  did  business  at  a  quarry 
near  there.  Sanborn  was  a  large, 
portly  man  with  enormous  feet.  One 


time  he  sent  one  of  his  shoes  to 
Concord  by  some  of  the  boys  to  be 
repaired  at  a  cobbler’s  shop.  A 
freight  crew  brought  the  shoe  back 
in  the  night  and  in  the  train  was  an 
empty  flat;  they  placed  the  shoe  in 
the  center  of  the  car,  carefully 
strapped  and  nailed  it  down,  and 
set  the  car  out  at  Sanborn’s  track. 
They  sent  a  man  up  to  the  house  to 
notify  Mr.  Sanborn  that  there  was 
a  car  with  some  freight  which 
should  be  unloaded  immediately. 


Thirty-five  or  forty  years  ago  the 
railroad  furnished  the  way  freight 
crew  free  breakfasts  at  the  Pemi- 
gewassett  House  when  they  arrived 
at  Plymouth,  and  the  railroad  paid 
the  bills. 


In  those  early  days  many  of  the 
freight  crews  lived  in  their  caboose. 
Had  it  fitted  up  with  cooking  uten¬ 
sils,  bunks,  etc.  In  those  days  eggs 
were  10  cents  a  dozen,  butter  15 
cents  a  pound,  and  other  provisions 
accordingly,  much  of  which  could 
be  procured  of  the  natives  along  the 
line. 


In  the  early  80s  two  popular 
freight  brakemen  were  killed  at  East 
Tilton.  These  men  were  Isaac  Pa¬ 
lin,  whose  remains  were  taken  to 
his  home  at  West  Holland,  Vt.,  by 
Frank  Johnson  and  Hosea  B.  Mann. 
The  other  was  Thomas  Gotchie. 
Both  were  on  the  way  freight. 


There  were  George,  Charles  and 
Edgar  Davison.  George  Davison 
was  station  agent  at  Woodsville,  and 
died  in  1888;  Edgar  was  killed  at 
Lisbon  and  Charles  left  the  road  and 
is  in  a  bakery  at  Woodsville. 


Another  bright  lad  who  went  to 
work  for  the  road  a  little  while  be¬ 
fore  it  was  taken  over  by  the  Bos¬ 
ton  &  Lowell,  was  Carroll  C.  Rine- 


48 


hart.  He  made  good,  worked  up 
and  was  train  master  of  the  White 
Mountain  Division  of  the  B.  &  M. 

Up  to  about  the  year  1878  the  pas¬ 
senger  cars  of  the  old  road  were 
bright  yellow. 


George  Stone  and  Al  Haines  were 
two  old  timers  as  well  known  forty 
years  ago  as  the  road  itself.  They 
got  into  a  fracas  one  day  and  when 
it  ended  Haines  had  bitten  a  chunk 
out  of  Stone’s  ear. 


One  day  thirty-five  years  ago  Con¬ 
ductor  Will  Keniston  was  coming 
out  of  Woodsville  with  a  through 
freight,  and  when  the  train  got  down 
to  North  Haverhill,  (now  Black- 
mount),  fire  was  discovered  in  a  car 
loaded  with  rags.  It  was  spon¬ 
taneous  combustion.  To  save  the 
train,  Keniston  took  matters  into 
his  own  hands,  stopped,  “pulled  the 
pin”  ordered  the  engine  down  the 
yard,  procured  a  wrench,  removed 
the  fish-plates  from  two  opposite 
rails,  sent  the  'locomotive  down  the 
line  to  get  a  start.  Throwing  the 
rail  ends  over  out  of  line  towards  a 
field  the  pin  was  pulled  and  the 
whole  done  almost  in  less  time  than 
is  required  to  tell  it,  the  car  was 
violently  shunted  over  the  dump  and 
left  to  burn  free  from  obstructing 
traffic  and  with  little  damage  to  the 
road-bed. 


Orrin  Berdean,  an  old  timer  and 
a  good  and  faithful  knight  of  the 
cab  is  83  years  old  and  is  passing 
his  declining  years  at  Laconia.  The 
names  of  many  of  these  old  timers 
are  mentioned  almost  with  rever¬ 
ence,  although  they  are  dead  they 
yet  liveth  and  their  works  do  follow 
them. 


Before  me  is  a  time  table  of  the 
old  Boston,  Concord  &  Montreal 
road,  giving  running  time  of  pas¬ 


senger  trains  between  Plymouth  and 
Concord  in  1850 — 69  years  ago.  It 
is  printed  on  a  red  card  3x5  inches. 
There  was  a  train  leaving  Plymouth 
for  Concord  at  7:35  in  the  morning 
arid  another  at  1:35  in  the  afternoon. 
They  were  due  to  reach  Concord  at 
9:55  and  3:55.  The  up  trains  left 
Concord  at  10:15  and  2:40,  arriv¬ 
ing  at  Plymouth  which  was  then  the 
terminal  of  the  road,  at  12:35  and 

5:05.  There  were  no  regular 

freights  scheduled  at  that  time.  It 
says  no  train  must  leave  or  pass  any 
depot  station  before  the  specified 

time  in  the  annexed  table.  It  states 
that  the  time  kept  in  the  Concord 
railroad  passenger  depot  will  be  the 
standard  time  to  run  by,  which  the 
conductors  and  enginemen  must  ob¬ 
serve  daily. 

Another  rule  was:  In  case  the  up 
train  cannot  arrive  at  Northfield 

Station  by  the  specified  time  in  the 
time  table,  it  must  be  kept  back  to 
some  Turnout  Station,  taking  par¬ 
ticular  care  to  arrive  at  such  sta¬ 
tion  five  minutes  before  the  down 
train  is  due  and  be  upon  the  turnout 
track. 

The  fourth  and  last  rule  read: 
The  Merchandise  train  (this  must 
have  been  the  freight)  will  keep  out 
of  the  way  of  all  regular  passenger 
trains.  And  the  Wood,  Gravel,  and 
all  Special  Trains  must  be  kept  out 
of  the  way  of  all  regular  Passenger 
and  Freight  trains  by  15  minutes  of 
the  time  in  all  cases.  The  same  is 
signed  by  James  N.  Elkins,  Agent. 

Stations  between  Plymouth  and 
Concord  were:  Plymouth,  Bridge- 
water,  Holderness,  Foggs,  Meredith 
Village,  Weirs,  Lake  Village,  Mere¬ 
dith  Bridge,  Union  Bridge,  Sanborn- 
ton,  Northfield,  Canterbury,  North 
Concord,  East  Concord,  Concord. 

Running  time  of  the  trains  be¬ 
tween  the  two  terminals  was  two 
hours  and  ten  minutes,  compared 
with  an  hour  and  fifty-five  today. 


49 

In  early  times  the  link  and  pin 
couplings  which  were  used  were  the 
cause  of  the  loss  of  many  an  arm  or 
hand;  the  link  slanted  at  about 
forty-five  degrees  as  it  “hung  down” 
and  in  making  a  hitch  had  to  be 
raised  to  a  level,  inserted  in  the 
opposite  draw-bar  and  the  pin 
dropped  in.  It  was  an  unwritten 
rule  to  always  pull  the  pin  at  the 
south,  leaving  the  link  in  the  north 
end  of  the  car.  It  was  a  character¬ 
istic  of  Conductor  Farrar  to  inva¬ 
riably  carry  a  stick  with  him  with 
which  to  lift  the  links  in  making 
hitches. 

On  either  side  of  the  draw-bars 
were  two  six-inch  blocks  of  wood 
with  an  iron  face  called  the  “bump¬ 
ers”.  These  deadly  bumpers  did 
their  execution  too  often,  and  were 
the  one  thing  railroad  men  of  those 
days  feared.  Along  in  the  early 
’80’s  came  the  modern  draw-bar- 
coupler  combined.  Many  times  the 
inventor  of  an  improvement  never 
receives  the  honor,  glory  or  finan¬ 
cial  benefit  from  it.  In  the  case  of 
the  couplers  now  used  between  all 
passenger  and  freight  cars  through¬ 
out  the  United  States  and  Canada, 
which  were  first  thought  of  and 
worked  out  by  an  old  man,  a  car 
cleaner  by  the  name  of  Mr.  Mitchell 
at  Lancaster,  N.  H.  A1  Mooney 
elsewhere  tells  in  a  letter  of  watch¬ 
ing  the  old  man  whittling  out  his 
model.  This  coupling  is  more  fully 
described  by  Mr.  Mooney  later  in 
this  volume. 


The  idea  of  inventions  brings  to 
mind  the  fact  that  the  “Corey  car” 
so-called,  the  hand  cars  used  a  few 
years  ago  by  telegraph  linemen  and 
road-masters  and  in  fact  in  quite 
general  use  today,  originated  in  the 
mind  of  a  Mr.  Corey,  a  carpenter 
over  in  Franconia,  who  worked  out 
a  model  for  the  benefit  of  the  world, 
and  some  other  man  to  patent. 


Thirty-five  years  ago  Baxter  Kim¬ 
ball,  road  master  had  one  of  these 
cars  and  his  trial  trip  with  it  was 
down  to  North  Haverhill;  the  little 
car  was  at  the  station  drawn  off  on 
the  lawn  and  being  viewed  by  the 
natives  who  were  curious  to  know 
what  it  was;  when  it  was  finally  de¬ 
cided  to  be  one  of  those  “new-fang¬ 
led”  corn  planters  such  as  they  used 
out  west”. 


Another  invention  which  went  far 
towards  revolutionizing  railroading 
and  for  which  the  originator  never 
received  any  financial  benefit,  was 
the  “climber”.  Railroad  men  of  to¬ 
day  will  be  surprised  to  know  the 
climbers  used  all  over  the  world, 
this  country  and  abroad,  was  the 
idea  of  A1  Haines,  a  Boston,  Concord 
&  Montreal  freight  conductor. 


A1  Mooney  says  probably  there 
are  not  half  a  dozen  men  living  to¬ 
day  who  are  aware  of  the  fact  that 
the  modern  “split  switch”  which  is 
at  the  present  day  used  on  ail  rail¬ 
roads  throughout  the  United  States 
and  Canada  was  invented  by  a  poor 
old  Irishman  who  worked  on  the 
Whitefield  &  Jefferson  road  back  in 
the  nineteenth  century.  In  those 
days  they  had  difficulty  with  rails 
expanding  in  the  sun  during  ex¬ 
tremely  hot  weather,  and  the  sec¬ 
tion  man  tried  a  split  rail  as  an  ex¬ 
periment.  This  rail  was  first  used 
on  the  curve  just  east  of  the  station 
at  Bethlehem  Junction  on  the  Faby- 
an  branch.  Soon  after,  some 
“schemer”  saw  the  idea  and  paten¬ 
ted  the  switch  which  is  so  extensive¬ 
ly  used  on  all  railroads  of  today. 
Before  that  time  the  switches  com¬ 
prised  of  two  patterns  the  “throw” 
switch  now  used  on  some  lumber 
roads,  and  an  antiquated  pattern 
known  as  the  “jack-knife”  switch. 
This  switch  was  placed  between  the 
rails  with  a  heavy  staple  driven  in- 


to  the  “tie”  to  which  to  lock  it  and 
threw  over  or  folded  down  like  a 
jack-knife  blade.  Certainly  the 
railroad  men  of  early  days  builded 
better  than  they  knew. 


Forty-one  years  ago  this  coming 
July  there  went  to  work  for  the  old 
B.,  C.  &  M.,  a  lad  from  the  little 
hamlet  of  Northfield,  who  for  more 
than  forty  years  has  stayed  on  the 
job  through  thick  and  thin  and  made 
good.  That  lad  was  the  well  known 
passenger  conductor  W.  E.  Kenis- 
ton.  Today  Will  Keniston  is  in 
charge  of  passenger  trains  on  the  P. 
V.  branch,  Plymouth  to  North  Wood- 
stock.  His  early  railroad  days  were 
spent  in  the  freight  service  and  for 
years  he  was  kept  in  that  branch  by 
the  officials  because  he  was  a  man 
fitted  for  such  work  in  every  sense 
of  the  word  and  they  realized  it,  and 
had  few  his  equal,  although  he  was 
deserving  of  “something  better”  but 
failed  to  get  into  the  passenger  ser¬ 
vice  for  long  after  scores  of  others 
had  been  promoted  above  him  time 
and  again.  Finally  circumstances 
changed;  the  O.  R.  C.,  in  this  par¬ 
ticular  io  a  benefit  to  its  members 
in  the  line  of  promotion,  and  the 
subject  of  this  sketch  was  given 
proper  rating  after  many  years.  In 
his  young  days  Keniston  learned  to 
telegraph  and  had  a  key  and  sounder 
on  the  road  with  him  in  his  buggy 
and  in  case  of  accidents  or  emergen¬ 
cy  could  “tap”  the  telegraph  wire 
and  communicate  with  headquarters. 
He  used  to  run  gravel  trains,  would 
have  a  telegraph  instrument  at  the 
gravel  pit  which  was  usually  re¬ 
mote  from  any  railroad  station,  and 
receive  his  own  train  orders  and 
send  his  own  messages,  thus  saving 
the  road  good  money.  Probably 
there  is  not  or  never  has  been  an¬ 
other  passenger  conductor  on  the 
road  with  a  better  moral  character 
than  Will  Keniston.  Soon  after  he 
was  advanced  to  the  passenger  ser- 


50 

vice  he  was  in  charge  of  trains  be¬ 
tween  Fabyans  and  the  Base  of  Mt. 
Washington,  and  coming  out  from 
the  Base  one  day  he  performed  a 
little  act  which  meant  much  to  the 
public  and  road  in  particular,  but 
considered  it  “all  in  the  day’s  work”. 
The  newspapers  said  of  it: 

“Wesley  Irwin  met  with  a  painful 
accident,  Monday,  by  falling  from 
his  engine  while  it  was  in  rapid  mo¬ 
tion  coming  down  from  the  base  of 
Mt.  Washington.  It  was  not  a 
heavy  train,  but  all  the  cars  were 
not  provided  with  brakes,  and  they 
got  to  going  a  little  above  the  regu¬ 
lation  speed.  Irwin  thought  his 
tender  brakes  might  be  slipping, 
and  stepped  into  the  gangway  to 
look.  He  had  on  a  new  pair  of 
shoes,  and  when  he  stepped  on  the 
end  of  the  head  block  his  feet 
slipped,  and  he  shot  from  the  en¬ 
gine. 

“When  he  recovered  his  senses 
his  train  was  out  of  sight  and  hear¬ 
ing,  and  he  could  remember  noth¬ 
ing  after  striking  his  back  on  the 
end  of  the  head  block.  After  three 
trials  he  managed  to  get  upon  his 
feet,  and  walked  along  the  track,, 
soon  seeing  the  train  backing  up  for 
him. 

“He  was  cut  and  bruised  all  over, 
his  face  seeming  to  have  suffered 
most,  though  on  Tuesday  he  was  so 
lame  he  could  not  be  moved  in  bed 
without  excruciating  pain.  On  Wed¬ 
nesday  he  was  reported  as  more 
comfortable,  though  still  suffering 
a  good  deal. 

“His  fireman  did  not  see  him  fall, 
and  when  he  missed  his  engineer  he 
was  so  alarmed  and  faint  that  he 
could  not  care  for  the  engine.  As 
the  speed  increased  Conductor  Will 
Keniston  crawled  over  the  tender 
and  finally  brought  the  train  to  a 
stop  near  the  end  of  the  branch 
where  the  grade  is  less. 

“This  branch  of  the  railroad  is 
through  a  very  rocky  country,  and 


Irwin  is  to  be  congratulated  on  his 
narrow  escape  from  more  serious  if 
not  fatal  injuries”. 


At  the  close  of  the  Civil  War 
there  came  back  to  Warren  a 
lad  who  went  to  work  for  the 
railroad  and  spent  nearly  thirty 
years  of  service  in  various 
branches — that  lad  was  Ned  T. 
Caswell,  parental  ancestor  of 
the  author  of  this  booklet. 
Four  years  ago  we  tenderly 
laid  his  remains  in  the  village 
church  yard.  He  did  his  work 
well,  and  was  one  of  the  many 
who  have  gone  to  their  long 
home  and  to  whose  memory 
this  book  is  dedicated. 


A  heroic  act  was  performed  by 
Herb  Gale  when  the  Berlin  Freight 
went  into  a  washout  at  Rum  Hill. 
This  was  not  in  the  B.,  C.  &  M.  days, 
but  Herb  learned  railroading  on  the 
old  road  and  there  never  was  a  bet¬ 
ter  railroad  man  than  he.  One 
night  there  was  a  cloud  burst  caus¬ 
ing  a  washout  just  north  of  Rum 
Hill  bridge;  the  Berlin  freight  went 
up  and  in  the  darkness,  ran  on  to  a 
culvert  which  had  been  undermined. 
The  engine  crew  jumped  or  were 
hurled  into  the  Wild  Ammonoosuc. 
The  locomotive  stood  on  her  pilot 
while  the  tender  remained  on  the 
iron.  Pat  Lennon,  an  old  time  en¬ 
gineer,  who  came  from  the  Brown’s 
Lumber  road,  was  struggling  in  the 
water,  and  with  the  other  poor  help¬ 
less  fellows,  two  of  whom  were 
drowned,  was  shouting  for  help. 
Herb,  quickly  got  up  ahead,  and 
thinking  only  of  suffering  humanity, 
breathed  a  silent  prayer  for  his 
young  wife  and  children,  plunged 
into  the  swift  flowing  stream  to  res¬ 
cue  if  possible  the  drowning  en¬ 
gineer.  He  did  his  best,  but  the 
men  died.  Herb  then  started  back 
on  foot  for  Woodsville  to  report  the 
catastrophe.  He  was  becoming  ex- 


51 

hausted,  and  went  up  to  a  little  red 
farm  house  on  the  right,  south  of 
the  bridge,  and  routed  the  farmer 
for  a  team.  The  team  was  refused 
him,  and  Herb  did  the  best  he 
could.  He  plodded  along  down  to 
the  Y  and  a  wrecking  and  rescuing 
crew  were  dispatched  to  the  scene. 
Elsewhere  Herb  Gale’s  name  is 
mentioned,  and  when  he  died  a  few 
years  ago  there  went  from  this  life 
a  man  who  will  never  be  equaled  in 
many  particulars. 


Of  the  older  engineers  but  eight 
are  running  today;  those  are,  Frank 
Burleigh,  Geo.  Hutchins,  Jim  Bad¬ 
ger,  Fred  Whiting,  Jack  Lawler, 
Geo.  Pebbles,  John  Buckley,  and  C. 
L.  Cummings. 


Forty  years  'ago  it  was  the  custom 
if  an  extra  train  was  to  be  run, 
word  would  be  sent  to  the  station 
agents  by  some  preceding  train.  I 
have  seen  the  conductor  of  the  mail 
train  out  of  Woodsville  wear  a  rib¬ 
bon  tied  in  his  vest-front  as  a  re¬ 
minder  for  him  to  tell  the  station 
agents  along  the  line  there  would 
be  an  extra  train  follow  the  mail 
out  of  Woodsville  the  next  day,  and 
the  agents  would  in  turn  notify  the 
section  men. 


There  was  a  rail  repair  shop  in 
the  engine  house  at  Warren  and 
worn  and  broken  rails  were  sent 
here  for  repairs  and  were  made  to 
do  good  service  thereafter.  One 
day  John  Russell,  who  had  charge 
of  the  section  between  Warren  Sum¬ 
mit  and  East  Haverhill,  had  a 
broken  rail.  He  removed  it,  made 
the  trip  to  Warren  with  it  on  a 
push-car  to  be  repaired,  left  the 
track  open  without  a  flagman  until 
their  return  later  in  the  day  when 
it  was  replaced. 


52 


Among  the  old  timers  along 
towards  the  last  days  of  the  road 
were  good  and  true  worthy  of  men¬ 
tion  such  as  Baxter  P.  Kimball, 
road  master;  Mel  Clifford,  who  suc¬ 
ceeded  him;  Josh  Harris,  and  his 
brother  Gus  Harris,  Herb  and  Scott 
Wells,  Ed  Lund,  the  Gale  twins — 
George  and  Frank;  George  was 
killed  several  years  ago,  and  Frank 
is  at  the  present  day  running  a 
through  freight  on  the  B.  &  M. 
Lawrence  Ford,  Melvin  Mann,  Fred 
Chase,  Will  Gordon  and  George 
Smith.  Horace  E.  Rano,  who  so 
many  years  kept  the  telegraph  line 
in  order;  Fred  Sanborn,  Gib  Dow, 
Frank  Stevens  and  Gilbert  McCon¬ 
nell.  Captain  Colby,  for  years  agent 
at  Plymouth;  A1  Mudgett,  of  the 
way  freight  who  was  killed  at  Ash¬ 
land;  Seth  Blodgett,  George  and 
Clarence  Randall,  these  three  were 
popular  and  efficient  telegraph  op¬ 
erators;  Jim  Badger,  Charles  Leav¬ 
itt,  agent  at  Laconia;  Curt  Leavitt 
for  many  years  agent  at  Meredith 
Bridge  and  afterwards  passenger 
conductor  on  the  Lake  Shore.  Then 
there  was  Ed  Lother,  Hosea  Cass, 
George  Carr,  Will  True,  Frank  Ro- 
bie,  Fernando  Gale,  Frank  Titus. 
Ed  Lund  was  said  to  be  the  best 
railroad  man  of  his  day  back  thirty 
years  ago,  for  he  understood  hand¬ 
ling  cars  when  shifting  in  congested 
yards  far  better  than  the  average. 
One  time  he  made  a  hitch  at  Ply¬ 
mouth  with  a  “stiff  coupling”,  stand¬ 
ing  on  the  pilot  of  a  locomotive  and 
the  impact  was  such  the  coupling 
which  he  held  in  is  hands  was  badly 
bent.  Herb  Gale  was  another  who 
was  Lund’s  equal  when  it  came  to 
“shifting  cars”. 


Then  there  was  Moody  Marston, 
who  used  to  run  the  cattle  train 
from  Lancaster.  Marston  is  living 
at  Woodsville  at  the  present  time, 
although  he  has  been  off  the  road 
for  some  30  years  or  more.  Sam 


Scales  and  Billy  Britton,  old  time 
section  foremen  at  Whitefield.  Pe¬ 
ter  Gormley,  another  old  timer  is 
still  on  the  job  at  Whitefield.  There 
was  Leonard  Crouch,  an  engineer 
who  was  killed  in  a  log  train  wreck 
on  the  Kilkenny  road  years  ago. 
John  Silver,  “Raney”  Murphy,  Pat 
Davis,  Walt  Keniston  and  his  broth¬ 
er  Will,  both  of  the  latter  are  yet  in 
the  harness.  Then  there  was  John 
C.  Pennock  who  was  “jolly  John” 
and  f<sr  years  carried  a  banjo  in  the 
cupboard  of  his  baggage  car  on 
Eastman’s  train,  and  made  use  of 
it. 


There  was  a  family  of  five  Mann 
boys,  all  of  whom  were  railroad 
men.  These  were  Melvin,  Hosea, 
Ezra,  Edward,  and  Henry.  Melvin 
J.  is  at  present  day  passenger  con¬ 
ductor  between  Lancaster  and  Con¬ 
cord;  Ezra  is  a  druggist  at  Woods- 
ville  and  Hosea  is  in  business  at 
Littleton.  Arthur  E.  Eastman  was  a 
popular  passenger  conductor  who 
died  in  the  prime  of  life.  Thirty- 
five  years  ago  he  was  news  agent  on 
“Eastman’s  train”,  now  known  to 
the  public  as  the  paper  train.  As 
he  grew  he  become  brakeman  on  the 
train  with  his  father,  though  a  mere 
lad  at  the  time.  A  few  years  later 
his  father,  George  W.  Eastman,  died 
(in  Jan.  1879)  and  Ed  was  made 
conductor  in  his  place  and  contin¬ 
ued  the  run  for  years.  Like  his 
father  before  him,  he  was  a  jolly 
good  fellow,  and  it  can  be  truth¬ 
fully  said  of  both  father  and  son, 
they  had  no  enemies. 


The  other  day  there  dawned  -on 
the  mind  of  the  writer  a  circum¬ 
stance  not  out  of  place  to  mention 
at  this  time,  with  reference  to  one 
of  the  old-time  freight  conductors, 
Mr.  0.  R.  Farrar.  Farrar  was  a 
good,  fatherly  old  soul,  and  I  can 
see  him  today  in  my  mind,  with 
those  bushy  whiskers  and  red  leg- 


53 


gins.  On  the  side  of  his  saloon,  ca¬ 
boose  or  buggy  was  a  sign  stating 
the  fact  that  butter,  eggs  and  pro¬ 
duce  were  bought  for  Boston  mark¬ 
ets.  Mr.  Farrar  did  quite  a  mer¬ 
cantile  business  in  this  way,  and  the 
native  farmers  were  glad  to  get  cash 
for  their  produce,  and  it  was  said 
Mr.  Farrar  made  more  buying  and 
selling  produce  than  from  the  rail¬ 
road.  I  remember  when  a  lad  my 
father  sent  my  first  “nest-egg”  of 
$10  to  a  Concord  Savings  Bank  by 
Mr.  Farrar,  and  I  have  seen  that 
nest-egg  grow  and  the  name  of  Far¬ 
rar  has  always  stayed  with  me. 
Why  shouldn’t  it? 


Here  is  a  letter  from  Mr.  Orange 
S.  Gleason,  one  of  the  oldest  men  in 
Warren  who  was  a  lad  away  back  in 
what  he  calls  “stage  times”,  long 
before  the  railroad  wended  its  way 
up  into  the  mountains.  Mir.  Glea¬ 
son’s  mind  is  as  fertile  as  a  youth 
just  from  college  and  he  is  interest¬ 
ing  to  converse  with  on  the  subject 
of  early  days. 

Editor  The  News: 

Your  railroad  article  is  going  to 
he  interesting  to  coming  generations 
who  will  have  no  knowledge  of  old 
times  when  the  road  was  first  built 
and  a  few  years  thereafter  unless  it 
is  given  them  in  some  kind  of  a  his¬ 
tory,  and  I  am  glad  you  'are  doing 
this  in  the  way  you  are.  I  have 
rounded  my  four  score  years  and 
more,  and  can  remember  this  town 
long  before  the  iron  horse  ever 
poked  its  nose  up  here  into  the  wild¬ 
erness.  Soon  after  the  road  reached 
Warren  there  came  new  life  to  the 
country  around  about.  When  the 
road  was  opened  Mr.  Warren  Smith 
of  Tilton,  a  contractor  who  made 
the  road  bed  through  the  town,  gave 
a  big  supper  at  the  hotel  then  kept 
by  Levi  Whitcher,  and  hilarity,  mu¬ 
sic  and  dancing  prevailed. 

When  they  were  surveying  the 


railroad,  Mr.  Nathaniel  Clough, 
then  87  years  old,  who  was  incredu¬ 
lous  about  the  enterprise,  said  that 
he  did  not  want  to  live  any  longer 
than  to  see  the  cars  run  into  War¬ 
ren.  He  was  sick  at  the  time  the 
first  regular  train  passed  his  house 
and  they  sat  him  up  in  bed  to  look 
at  it.  Two  weeks  after  he  was 
dead. 

If  my  memory  serves  me  right  it 
was  on  the  24th  of  May,  1851  the 
first  engine  ran  to  Warren,  and  the 
following  day  (May  25)  its  bell 
rang  for  the  first  time  at  Warren 
depot.  This  town  was  the  road’s 
terminal  for  two  years,  when  it  con¬ 
tinued  on  to  the  north.  A  survey 
was  made  up  what  is  called  Berry 
brook,  or  the  route  of  the  present 
highway  to  Warren  Summit,  and 
later  the  present  location  was  set¬ 
tled  upon.  It  was  a  mistake,  as 
they  encountered  the  Summit,  “cut” 
which  cost  $150,000.00  and  required 
a  year  and  a  half  time  to  build.... 
I  remember  when  a  boy  of  helping 
“water  up”  those  old  wood  burning 
engines  by  hand,  a  “bucket  brigade” 
passing  water  to  fill  the  tank  in  the 
tender.  When  the  road  was  built 
my  father  run  a  saw  mill  at  East 
Warren,  and  I  remember  he  lost 
several  hundred  dollars  from  lumber 
which  he  let  a  contractor  have  with 
which  to  build  huts  or  shantys  for 
the  workmen  for  which  he  never  got 
pay.  The  first  station  agent  at 
Warren  was  David  Atwood,  followed 
by  a  Mr.  Chase,  Richard  Wiggin, 
Maurice  M.  Lawrence,  Edwin  C. 
Wentworth,  Morrill  J.  Sanborn  and 
John  E.  Davis. 

Those  old  days  are  no  more,  like¬ 
wise  most  of  the  men  who  helped  to 
make  them  what  they  were,  and  I 
often  wonder  if  the  next  seventy- 
five  years  will  bring  about  as  great 
changes,  or  possibly  greater  as  has 
the  past  three-quarters  of  a  century. 

O.  S.  GLEASON. 
Warren,  N.  H.,  April  6,  1919. 


54 

Ex-Superintendent  G.  E.  Cum¬ 
mings  in  a  recent  letter  sends  the 
following: 

Friend  Caswell : 

I  have  before  me  a  copy  of  the 
Pay  Roll  of  the  B.,  C.  &  M.  R.  R.,  for 
September  1859 — 60  years  ago; 
showing  the  names  of  every  person 
employed,  firom  the  President  down, 
with  their  daily  wages.  It  may  be 
interesting  reading  at  this  time. 


John  E.  Lyon,  president,  $3.10 

J.  A.  Dodge,  superintendent,  6.38 

J.  L.  Rogers,  gen.  ticket  agent,  2.23 

Geo.  Stephens,  master  mechanic,  3.19 

J.  J.  Swain,  road  master,  3.07 

Abe  Mitchell,  ass’t.  road  master,  1.75 

Hiram  Merrill,  bridge  foreman,  2.00 

L.  D.  Badger,  ass’t.  bridge  foreman,  1.42 
Jas.  Foss,  foreman  shop,  2.12 

Moses  R.  Elkins,  wood  workman,  1.80 

Jerry  S.  Jewett,  foreman  car  repairer,  1.80 
John  Knight,  foreman  painter,  1.50 

J.  M.  Lougee,  foreman  blacksmith,  1.91 
Machinist,  pair  $1.12  to  $1.50. 


Repairmen  and  wood  workers,  $1.25  to 
$1.42. 

Section  foremen,  $1.15  to  $1.23. 

Second  hands  on  sections,  90c. 

There  were  only  forty-six  section 
men  on  the  road  at  this  time.  My 
brother  was  a  section  foreman  at 
the  time,  and  Dan  Foley  was  his 
second-hand.  There  was  one  gate 
tender,  Eph.  Green  at  Plymouth,  and 
he  was  paid  27  cents  per  day. 


The  station  agents  were  as  fal¬ 
lows  : 

Littleton,  H.  E.  Chamberlain,  per 
day,  $1.92 

Lisbon,  Geo.  Peernu,  .48 

Rath,  W.  V.  Hutchins,  .48 

Woodsville,  W.  B.  Douglas,  1.23 

North  Haverhill,  G.  A.  Milley,  ‘.90 

Haverhill,  H.  Merrill,  .90 

East  Haverhill,  W.  W.  Simpson,  .90 

Warren,  M.  J.  Sanborn,  1.12 

Wentworth,  S.  Doe,  .90 

West  Rumney,  I.  R.  Swain,  .90 

Itiimney,  John  Wentworth,  .90 

Plymouth,  M.  L.  Lawrence,  1.12 

Holderness,  T.  P.  Woodman,  1.25 

Meredith  Village,  J.  M.  Bedee,  1.12 

Lake  Village,  Myron  Taylor,  1.12 

Laconia,  A.  C.  Leavitt,  2.00 

Union  Bridge,  F.  M.  Merrick,  1.01 

Sanbornton  Bridge,  D.  F.  Johnson,  1.41 
Northheld,  A.  M.  Cogswell,  .25 

East  Concord,  T.  ,T.  Clough,  1.00 


Only  Littleton  station  had  an  as¬ 
sistant,  this  was  Alden  Quimby,  who 
was  paid  $1.00  per  day. 


The  -  freight  conductors  were  Dav¬ 
id  Ferguson,  O.  R.  Farrar,  J.  W. 
Butler,  H.  W.  Ramsey,  Z.  D.  Whitch- 
er  who  were  paid  $1.73  per  day. 

Freight  brakemen,  Geo.  Ramsey, 
Nat.  Batchelder,  pay  $1.25  per  day. 

Passenger  conductors,  S.  J.  Russ, 
Geo.  Little,  Seth  Greenleaf,  pay  $1.73 
per  day.  Passenger  brakemen,  A. 
St.  Clair,  E.  P.  Fisher,  T.  P.  Thayer, 
Thomas  Robie,  pay  $1.54  per  day. 

Passenger  engineers,  Henry  Lit¬ 
tle,  John  Davis,  Isaac  Sanborn. 

Freight  engineers,  J.  J.  Garman, 
Charles  Tilton,  Ralph  Adams. 

Firemen,  W.  D.  Sargent,  G.  B. 
Randall,  B.  F.  Osgood,  John  Sargent, 
Walter  Vernbam,  J.  H.  Smalley. 
All  the  engineers  were  paid  $2.12 
per  day,  and  the  firemen  $1.12. 

As  boy  and  man  I  knew  all  of 
these  and  worked  with  many  of 
them.  I  do  not  think  there  is  any 
on  the  roll  who  are  living  today.  A 
majority  of  them  died  in  the  service. 
A  few  bettered  themselves  by  going 
to  other  roads.  Very  few  left  any 
property.  Of  the  list  I  know  of 
three  killed  on  duty — George  Ram¬ 
sey,  E.  P.  Fisher  and  John  Butler. 
The  daily  expense  on  play  roll  for 
this  particular  month  was  $191.77. 
Overtime,  emergency  and  other  de¬ 
tails  which  go  to  meet  the  pay  roll 
of  today  were  reckoned  at  that  time. 

G.  E.  CUMMINGS. 
Woodsville,  N.  H.,  March  21,  1919. 


In  the  fall  of  1882,  a  few  months 
after  the  freight  wreck  at  North 
Haverhill,  there  occurred  another 
wreck.  This  time  it  was  a  passen¬ 
ger  train  Concord  to  Woodsville, 
which  took  place  about  6:30  p.  m., 
in  what  is  known  to  railroad  men  as 
“Dark  Hollow”,  a  few  rods  south  of 
the  old  Cobleigh  stand,  now  the  Cot¬ 
tage  Hospital.  The  train  was  bowl¬ 
ing  along  at  its  usual  speed  when 
the  engine  left  the -iron  and  ran  for 
quite  a  distnace  on  the  ties,  finally 
landing  in  a  heap  badly  wrecked. 


55 


along  with  several  cars.  Nobody 
was  seriously  hurt.  The  general 
supposition  as  to  cause  of  the  acci¬ 
dent  was  that  someone  placed  a  rail¬ 
road  spike  between  the  joints  in 
such  a  manner  as  to  lift  the  locomo¬ 
tive  wheels  sufficiently  to  lift  the 
flanges  from  inside  the  rails.  Some 
had  an  idea  possibly  it  may  have 
been  done  by  some  imbecile  from 
the  county  farm  a  mile  down  the 
track. 


Canterbury,  N.  H.,  April  10,  1919. 
Warren  News  Editor: 

I  have  read  with  interest  some  of 
your  articles  on  early  railroad  days. 
They  are  exceedingly  interesting; 
but  I  have  not  noticed  very  much 
being  said  about  section  men  of 
forty  and  fifty  years  ago.  My 
grandfather  was  a  section  man  in 
e'aVly  days  of  the  road,  and  I  really 
would  like  to  see  an  account  of  some 
of  the  men  who  did  the  part  of  the 
work  of  trackmen,  for  certainly 
they  were  of  some  importance; 
without  the  section  men  the  rail¬ 
road  would  not  have  succeeded.’ 

A  READER. 


There  are  but  few  records  acces¬ 
sible  with  reference  to  section  men 
of  those  early  times,  but  the  writer 
has  a  document  containing  the 
names  of  fifty-three  section  men  em¬ 
ployed  by  the  B.,  C.  &  M.,  63  years 
ago.  Their  average  pay  was  ap¬ 
proximately  $1.00  a  day.  Most  of 
these  trackmen  probably  stayed  with 
the  road  a  number  of  years,  as  sec¬ 
tion  men  usually  do,  or  until  a  bet¬ 
ter  job  was  afforded  them.  The  doc¬ 
ument  before  me  contains  the  names 
of  a  number  of  section  men  who  in 
after  years  worked  up  to  better  sit¬ 
uations.  I  notice  George  Cummings 
foreman  of  section  No.  20.  He  was 
a  brother  of  ex-Supt.  G.  E.  Cum¬ 
mings;  his  assistant  was  Dan  Fo¬ 
ley,  who  later  was  a  freight  conduc¬ 


tor.  Then  there  was  John  Marsh, 
foreman  of  section  No.  3.  John 
Marsh  later  went  to  firing  and  in 
due  time  became  engineer.  He  has 
been  spoken  of  a  number  of  times 
elsewhere  in  this  article.  His  in¬ 
fluence  for  good  among  his  fellow 
workmen  had  a  marked  and  lasting 
effect,  and  to  this  day  many  of  the 
old  time  railroad  men  often  refer  to 
Uncle  John’s  religion. 


Another  incident  of  the  old  days 
which  will  always  remain  in  the 
writer’s  mind  was  when  I  was  knee 
high  to  a  grasshopper,  how  my 
father,  then  station  agent  at  Warren 
Summit,  tried  to  stop  seven  runaway 
loaded  cars  going  down  the  hill.... 
It  was  a  winter  night,  about  9 
o’clock  an  extra  freight  was  sent  out 
single  with  more  load  than  could  be 
gotten  over  the  hill.  They  had  to 
“double  over’’.  The  first  section  or 
a  part  of  the  train  was  taken  to  top 
of  the  hill  and  left  on  the  main  line 
with  the  wheels  “trigged”  but  no 
brakes  set  and  no  brakeman  left 
with  the  cars.  The  crew  went  back 
down  the  hill  for  the  rear  end; 
they  brought  it  up  on  to  the  siding 
and  pulled  the  pin  on  the  engine  to 
go  airound  on  to  the  main  line  for 
the  first  section  of  the  train.  In  the 
meantime  the  wind  was  blowing  and 
the  cars  started  down  the  heavy 
grade,  every  second  gaining  momen¬ 
tum.  My  father  was  at  the  station, 
heard  them  coming  in  the  darkness, 
could  see  no  light,  and  in  a  flash  the 
situation  was  plain.  Grabbing  his 
lantern  as  the  first  car  passed  he 
swung  aboard,  climbed  to  the  hand 
brake.  It  was  a  bark,  car  and  the 
brake  chain  was  broken  or  un¬ 
hitched;  he  went  back  to  the  other 
two  which  were  loaded  with  sawed 
lumber  with  the  old  fashioned  T 
brake-head  which  dropped  flat  with 
the  car  bottom;  neither  of  these 
brakes  could  be  gotten  at.  Time 


was  precious  and  every  second  the 
heavily  loaded  cars  were  gaining 
momentum  on  the  65  foot  grade. 
Climbing  over  the  two  cars  of  lum¬ 
ber  he  found  a  brake  on  a  box  car 
and  set  it  with  all  the  strength  he 
could  exert,  then  started  back  over 
to  the  next.  This  one  brake  had  but 
little  effect  in  checking  the  speed. 
There  were  other  cars  and  his  only 
hope  was  in  three  other  brakes 
which  he  was  certain  if  they  could 
be  reached  and  were  in  working 
condition  might  save  the  cars,  and 
possibly  avert  a  terrible  wreck;  as 
for  two  weeks  previous  freight 
traffic  had  been  heavy  and  his  sup¬ 
position  was  that  another  extra 
might  at  that  moment  be  coming 
out  from  Woodsville  or  even  up  the 
hill.  The  car  next  the  box  was 
loaded  with  bark,  and  as  he  climbed 
to  the  running  board  his  foot 
slipped  and  off  over  the  side  he  went 
down  a  twenty-foot  embankment  and 
the  loaded  cars  went  on  down  the 
hill  at  a  terrific  rate,  gaining  speed 
every  rails  length.  The  roar  of 
those  cars  was  heard  for  miles 
through  the  night  air  and  they  lit¬ 
erally  shook  themselves  to  pieces, 
and  were  in  such  condition  that 
they  could  not  safely  be  drawn  in  a 
train  and  were  left  on  a  siding  at 
North  Haverhill  for  repairs.  The 
roadway  was  strewn  with  bolts, 
nuts  and  iron  from  half  way  down 
the  hill  to  North  Haverhill  and  how 
the  cars  stayed  on  the  iron  was  a 
wonder.  Fortunately  the  road  that 
night  was  clear,  a  circumstance 
which  had  not  happened  for  two 
weeks  before,  and  the  cars  stayed 
on  the  iron  and  came  to  a  stop  in 
the  “hollow”  near  the  bridge  beyond 
North  Haverhill  (Blackmount)  sta¬ 
tion.  As  the  runaway  cars  went 
down  the  hill  off  in  the  distance  my 

mother  happened  to  see  the  light  of 
a  lantern  suddenly  drop  from  the 
top  over  the  side;  I  rushed  to  tell 


56 

my  father  someone  had  fallen  off 
those  cars,  and  found  the  little  sta¬ 
tion  room  deserted.  Though  a  small 
lad,  it  did  not  take  me  long  to  real¬ 
ize  the  situation,  and  I  still  remem¬ 
ber  how  my  mother  and  I  rushed  a 
quarter  of  a  mile  down  the  track, 
not  knowing  what  we  might  find.  It 
was  with  relief  of  mind  I  met  my 
father  coming  up  the  track,  still 
clinging  to  his  extinguished,  half- 
demolished  lantern,  both  wrists  cut 
and  bleeding,  but  he  was  not  seri¬ 
ously  injured  and  was  able  to  tele¬ 
graph  Woodsville  to  “Set  Y  switch 
for  runaway  cars”. 


As  late  as  1857  the  company  had 
no  engine  house  at  Concord.  It  al¬ 
ways  had  been  accommodated  with 
room  for  its  engines  in  the  engine 
house  of  the  Northern  Road,  for 
which  a  rent  of  $400  per  year* was 
paid.  A  record  made  hy  the  super¬ 
intendent  at  that  time  was  to  the 
effect  that,  so  long  as  such  an  ac¬ 
commodation  is  continued  an  engine 
house  would  not  be  needed;  but 
should  the  wants  of  the  Northern 
Railroad  at  any  time  render  it 
necessary  to  discontinue  the  use  of 
their  house  by  this  road,  a  new 
building  for  that  purpose  would  be 
necessary.  He  further  stated  that 
the  company  owned  land  on  which 
it  could  be  built  whenever  necessary 
and  the  cost  of  a  proper  building 
with  suitable  fixtures,  he  estimated 
at  less  than  $4,750.  The  fire  at 
Lake  Village  shops  about  this  time 
badly  damaged  four  locomotives 
which  were  in  the  buildings.  There 
was  an  insurance  on  the  locomo¬ 
tives  amounting  to  $9,056.33  while 
the  loss  was  $11,600.00,  leaving  the 
actual  loss  $2,543.67. 


There  was  a  washout  at  Went¬ 
worth  in  the  fall  of  1858  which  cost 
the  road  $541.72  according  to  the 
director’s  report. 


57 


As  near  as  any  records  can  be 
found  to  indicate  the  .engineers 
working  in  1857 — 62  years  ago  there 
were  Thomas  P.  Clifford,  Harry  A. 
Cummings,  Ralph  Adams,  Mooney 
Moulton,  Charles  Tilton,  Jabez  J. 
•Garman,  Alfred  Drake,  Isaac  San¬ 
born,  John  L.  Davis,  James  M.  Foss, 
C.  H.  Latham. 

The  best  record  I  can  find  of  the 
firemen  that  same  year  were  W.  D. 
Sargent,  Aaron  Ferguson,  Albert 
Keniston,  George  F.  Davis,  George 
B.  Randall,  Charles  M.  Elkins,  I.  S. 
Goodwin,  W.  B.  Farnham. 

The  conductors  were  D.  Ferguson, 
G.  E.  Nutting,  A.  L.  Smith,  H. 
W.  Ramsey,  O.  R.  Farrar,  John 
Fuller,  W.  Whitcher,  C.  F.  Hicks, 
Seth  Greenleaf,  J.  S.  Russ,  George 
W.  Little,  Asa  Sinclair,  E.  P.  Fish¬ 
er,  A.  A.  Osgood,  John  Cleveland. 

In  1855  the  railroad  company 
owned  7,000  acres  of  wood  lands — 
equivalent  to*  over  ten  square  miles 
— and  the  wood  required  for  the 
company,  as  well  as  sleepers,  ma¬ 
terials  for  repair  of  fences,  and 
other  purposes  of  the  road  was  pro¬ 
cured  from  off  this  land.  All  the 
work  of  getting  off  the  wood  and 
lumber  was  contracted  by  the  wood 
agent.  All  the  railroad  sawing  of 
lumber  was  done  by  contract  at  the 
mills  at  Warren,  owned  by  A.  C. 
Weeks  &  Co.,  the  railroad  having 
priority  over  all  the  other  work 
done  there.  The  cost  of  procuring 
the  wood  and  lumber  lands  was 
about  $3  per  acre  on  an  average. 
Some  300  acres  of  the  7,000  consisted 
of  farm  lands,  which  were  later  sold 
the  wood  land  being  retained.  This 
same  year  a  tenement  was  erected 
at  Woodsville  (then  spelled  Wood- 
ville)  this  tenement  was  occupied 
by  the  station  agent;  four  new 
hand-car  houses  were  built  along 
the  different  sections,  and  unfenced 
parts  of  the  roadway  finished. 


This  same  year  the  road  paid  for 
repairs  $8,417.84  which  included  the 
expense  of  entirely  rebuilding  the 
gravel  train;  rebuilding  the  freight 
house  at  Meredith  Bridge,  which, 
was  burned  in  1851;  construction 
of  a  new  truss  bridge,  to  replace  the 
pile  structure  on  Concord  interval; 
rebuilding  car  house  at  Woodsville 
damaged  by  wind  in  the  fall  of  1854. 
The  repairs  on  this  was  nearly 
equivalent  to  a  new  building. 


Elsewhere  mention  is  made  of  con¬ 
ductor  W.  B.  Douglas  getting  both 
Tegs  broken  by  some  lumber  becom¬ 
ing  dislodged  from  a  car  near  North- 
field.  The  corporation  paid  Mr. 
Douglas  $200;  his  expenses  of  $245.- 
07.  After  he  recovered  he  was  made 
station  agent  at  Woodsville  where 
he  served  the  road  faithfully  for 
many  years. 


During  the  year  1855  there  were 
but.  two  accidents  on  the  road.  In 
July  of  that  year  a  gentleman  from 
Massachusetts,  passenger  in  an  ac¬ 
comodation  train  down,  fell  asleep 
in  the  car,  and  the  superintendent’s 
report  of  that  year  says,  his  arm  was 
banging  out  of  the  window  and  was 
fractured  in  passing  through  a 
bridge.  In  August  of  the  same  year. 
Rev.  Mir.  Curtis,  of  Sanbornton, 
while  standing  too  near  a  freight 
train,  shifting  cars  at  Sanbornton, 
incautiously  got  in  the  way,  was 
thrown  down,  and  fradtured  his 
thigh. 


94  Prospect  St., 
Marlboro,  Mass., 
March  31,  1919. 

C.  E.  Caswell: 

I  started  as  passenger  brakeman 
on  the  old  B.,  C.  &  M.  R.  R.  in  1882 
on  the  White  Mountain  express, 
Boston  to  Fabyans  the  first  season; 
the  next  year  Lancaster  and  Boston. 
None  of  the  officials  of  the  old  road 


58 


of  those  days  are  now  living.  Mr. 
Dodge,  the  superintendent  died  in 
1882  or  1883;  Mr.  W.  R.  Brackett, 
general  ticket  agent  died  a  year  or 
two  later;  Messrs.  Whittier  and 
Cobb  have  both  long  since  passed  to 
their  rest.  In  the  passenger  service 
today  I  think  Melvin  Mann,  L.  K. 
Ford  and  Frank  Mooney  are  the 
only  conductors  working  today  who 
were  running  in  1882  when  I  went 
to  work.  In  the  winter  of  1883  I 
came  down  here  and  went  to  work 
for  the  Boston  &  Dowell,  long  since 
consolidated  with  the  Boston  & 
Maine,  and  have  been  here  ever 
since.  Several  years  ago  the  runs 
were  re-arranged  so  I  left  Marl¬ 
boro  at  10  a.  m.,  arrived  at  Boston 
at  11.05;  left  Boston  at  1:30  p.  m., 
for  Woodsville,  arriving  there  at 
6:30  where  I  remained  until  the 
next  morning  when  the  return  trip 
was  made.  I  had  as  engineer  from 
Concord  to  Woodsville,  Mr.  William 
Kimball,  of  Plymouth,  one  of  the 
best  men  that  ever  stepped  on  a  lo¬ 
comotive — true  as  steel.  He  rests 
from  his  labors.  Thirty  or  thirty- 
five  years  has  made  many  changes. 
When  I  left  the  old  home  and  went 
to  work  on  the  road  my  good  father 
and  mother  were  living  up  in  New 
Hampshire  on  the  old  town  farm 
near  Quincy  station,  and  now  oc¬ 
cupied  by  Mr.  J.  B.  Foster.  Father 
and  mother  have  passed  away,  and 
all  is  changed. 

CHAS.  F.  G.  CLARK. 


Here  is  a  letter  out  of  the  ordin¬ 
ary,  written  by  a  man  who  “knows 
whereof  he  speaks”. 

Oregon  City,  Ore.,  April  6,  1919. 
Mr.  C.  E.  Caswell: 

Warren,  N.  H. 

J.  was  born  in  Bristol,  N.  H.,  April 
23,  1844  and  remember  the  talk  of 
two  railroads  trying  to  reach  Ply¬ 
mouth  first;  the  Northern  and  Bos¬ 
ton,  Concord  &  Montreal.  I  re¬ 
member  well  of  seeing  the  first 


train  to  reach  Bristol.  It  was  in 
August  of  the  year  1846.  There  the 
road  ends  to  this  day.  In  the  sum¬ 
mer  of  1847  I  saw  the  first  train  to 
Plymouth  pass  over  the  lower  in¬ 
tervale,  Patch  Clifford,  driver  of  en¬ 
gine,  “Lady  of  the  Lake”;  John  W. 
Wardwell,  conductor;  Thomas  Ro- 
bie,  brakeman.  In  the  winter  of 
1852  or  ’53  during  cold  weather, 
rain  and  ice  formed  on  the  rails  to 
the  thickness  of  an  inch;  men  and 
boys  were  employed  to  cut  it  off  with 
axes  and  hatchets.  The  engines 
were  not  heavy  enough  to  crush  the 
ice  and  one  left  the  track.  It  was 
several  days  before  a  train  got 
through.  I  think  “Elkins”  was  first 
superintendent  of  the  road,  then 
“Whiton”  and  J.  A.  Dodge.  While 
Dodge  was  superintendent,  W.  R. 
Brackett  was  truck  agent  and  I  was 
in  the  office  learning  to  telegraph. 

I  think  the  road  ended  at  Warren 
for  a  while,  then  at  Woodsville. 
Some  years  before  it  went  through 
to  Littleton.  I  had  occasion  to  go 
to  Lancaster  in  1866  and  there  was 
a  stage  from  Littleton  to  Lancaster. 
In  1882  I  helped  build  the  station 
buildings  on  the  P.  V.,  for  P.  H. 
Crawford. 

The  engines  now  used  to  climb  the 
Cascade  Mountains  are  very  much 
larger  than  the  old  time  “Lady  of 
the  Lake”  and  “Peter  Clark”.  Now 
I  will  tell  you  of  an  incident:  A 
man  named  Sticky  Green  was  gate 
tender  at  the  crossing  from  Main  St., 
at  Plymouth  to  Holderness;  the 
gate  shut  across  the  railroad  when 
no  train  whistled.  It  once  so  hap¬ 
pened  that  before  Mr.  Green  got  to 
the  gate,  the  gate  engine  “Peter 
Clark”  went  through  it;  Mr.  Green 
hurried  to  the  superintendent’s  office 
and  said,  “Mr.  Dodge,  I  wish  my  dis¬ 
charge  without  delay,  for  Peter 
Clark  came  in  the  dark  and  took  my 
gate  away”. 

Respectfully, 

GEO.  A.  BROWN, 


Oregon  City,  Ore., 

R.  3,  Box  200. 

P.  S.  I  lived  in  Plymouth  until 
1867 ;  since  then  I  have  roamed  the 
U.  S.  over. 


Superintendents  of  the  road  have 
been:  Peter  Clark,  James  N.  Elkins, 
James  M.  Whiton,  John  T.  Coffin, 
Joseph  A.  Dodge,  Edward  F.  Mann. 


The  Washington  Artillery,  a  mil¬ 
itary  company  then  existing  in  Gro¬ 
ton,  N.  H.,  fired  an  official  salute  to 
the  first  passenger  train  run  into 
Plymouth  on  opening  of  the  road  to 
that  town.  This  was  a  12-lb.  brass 
field  piece,  and  the  cannon  later 
went  south  and  was  used  in  the 
Union  Army  from  1861  to  1865. 
This  gun  was  touched  by  Daniel 
Kidder,  a  Grand  Army  veteran  now 
living  in  Rumney  and  past  80  years 
of  age.  Mr.  Kidder  has  represented 
his  town  in  the  legislature  the  last 
three  sessions,  and  is  remarkably 
smart  even  for  a  man  twenty  years 
his  junior.  At  the  time  the  railroad 
was  being  built  Mr.  Kidder  was  a 
lad  living  in  the  town  of  Groton, 
which  was  then  prosperous  with 
many  good  farms.  He  tells  how 
Josiah  Quincy,  the  first  president  of 
the  road  came  up  through  their 
neighborhood  soliciting  funds  to  be 
used  in  building  the  road,  and  how 
the  natives  and  farmers  subscribed 
for  from  one  to  ten  shares  each,  at 
par  value  of  $100. 


One  morning  some  forty  years  ago 
a  brakeman  by  the  name  of  Sanborn 
was  killed  and  his  body  badly  mu¬ 
tilated  at  one  of  the  twin  bridges 
just  south  of  “bulls  eye  curve”  be¬ 
tween  Wentworth  and  West  Rum¬ 
ney.  In  an  old  newspaper  clipping 
the  other  day  I  came  across  an  ac¬ 
count  of  the  accident  as  published 
at  the  time.  The  exact  date  cannot 
be  given.  On  this  particular  morn¬ 
ing  a  south-bound  freight  due  at 


59 

Wentworth  station  about  6  o’clock 
broke  apart  and  as  they  neared  the 
station  the  signal  whistle  was 
sounded,  every  man  was  at  his  post. 
As  they  passed  the  house  of  B.  T. 
White,  they  came  together  and  in  a 
few  minutes  more  the  signal  of  dis¬ 
tress  was  given.  The  faithful  en¬ 
gineer,  Alfred  Brown,  stepped  up  on 
to  the  car  from  his  engine  to  see  if 
they  were  ready  to  apply  the  coup¬ 
ling,  when  he  missed  the  brakeman 
whose  lantern  he  saw  but  a  moment 
before.  He  couldn’t  see  him  and  im¬ 
mediately  told  his  fireman  to  go  and 
look  for  him  under  the  train  for  he 
thought  he  must  have  fallen.  The 
fireman  obeyed  and  instantly 
retraced  his  steps,  for  his  eyes  saw 
what  his  heart  could  not  bear.  The 
engineer  then  followed  up  the  track 
and  came  to  Sanborn  wound  up 
tightly  on  the  outside  of  the  truck 
frame.  Willing  hearts  and  ready 
hands  from  the  families  of  Messrs. 
Gove  and  White  did  all  to  assist  in 
getting  out  the  crushed  remains  of 
a  man  who  was  six  feet  high  and 
had  been  so  mangled  and  torn  to 
pieces  that  he  lay  in  a  space  not  far 
from  two  feet.  His  tongue  was  torn 
from  his  mouth  by  the  roots  almost 
at  first;  his  teeth,  his  skull  and  his 
brains  Were  strewn  all  along  for 
several  cars, — and  blood  and  bones 
were  enough  to  make  stout  hearts 
shudder.  His  head  was  torn  and 
ground  completely  to  atoms.  His 
arms,  feet  and  legs  were  nothing  but 
cords  and  a  mass  of  muscles.  His 
body  was  wrapped  in  a  quilt  and 
the  remainder  of  the  bones,  etc., 
put  in  a  small  box  and  sent  to  his 
home  in  Rumney.  There  is  no 
doubt  but  he  came  to  his  death  by 
his  being  hit  by  a  bridge  which  is 
too  low  for  a  man  standing  to  pass 
under.  This  is  not  the  first  man 
who  has  been  killed  in  the  same 
place,  but  we  sincerely  hope  it  may 
be  the  last.  At  least  three  men  lost 
their  lives  at  this  particular  “twin 


60 


bridge”  before  the  “tell  tail”  was 
erected  by  a  state  law. 


FRANK  W.  LOUGEE 
One  of  the  B.,  C.  &  M.  Men 


This  little  history  would  be  al¬ 
most  a  flat  failure  if  the  name  of 
the  late  Hon.  Edward  F.  Mann 
should  be  omitted.  Edward  F. 
Mann  was  educated  in  the  common 
schools  of  Benton  and  at  Tilton 
Seminary,  and  commenced  his  rail¬ 
road  career  in  Tilton  station  in  1866. 
A  year  later  he  became  a  brakeman; 
soon  afterwards,  baggage  master; 
and  then  conductor.  October  1881, 


he  was  appointed  station  agent  of 
the  B.,  C.  &  M.  R.  R.,  at  Concord, 
and  in  October  1884  was  promoted  to 
Assistant  Superintendent  and  moved 
to  Woodsville.  When  the  B.,  C.  & 
M.  R.  R.  passed  under  the  control  of 
the  Concord  Railroad  Co.,  he  was 
appointed  Superintendent  of  the  line 
north  of  Concord,  and  when  the  two 
roads  were  consolidated,  he  was 
made  Superintendent  of  Train  Ser¬ 
vice  for  the  whole  system.  April 
first,  1892,  he  was  appointed  Super¬ 
intendent  of  the  Concord  and  Mon¬ 
treal  consolidated  lines,  and  moved 
to  Concord. 

Edward  F.  Mann  left  his  mark  in 
the  world.  The  impress  of  a  man 
of  public  spirit,  untiring  industry, 
keen  foresight  and  unswerving 
personal  loyalty.  He  was  a  leader 
in  all  public  mea'sures  to  promote 
the  welfare  of  the  people  of  the 
state,  especially  the  section  of  his 
nativity  and  active  work,  and  to  his 
individual  efforts  were  due  perhaps, 
more  than  to  those  of  any  other  per¬ 
son,  the  broadened  railroad  policy 
of  this  section,  that  has  meant  much 
for  the  development  of  every  town 
and  village  of  Northern  New  Hamp¬ 
shire. 

Possessing,  himself,  liberal  views 
of  railroad  management  and  an  in¬ 
timate  knowledge  of  the  mountain 
regions,  its  railroad  necessities  and 
the  characteristics  of  its  people,  to¬ 
gether  with  a  firm  faith  in  the  pos¬ 
sibilities  of  its  future  development, 
and  last,  but  not  least,  a  wonderfully 
strong  hold  upon  the  affections  and 
friendship  of  almost  every  person 
of  this  section  with  whom  he  was 
brought  in  business  or  social  con¬ 
tact,  he  was  a  most  powerful  force 
in  shaping  the  railroad  policy  as 
applied  to  this  region,  and  while  he 
has  never  lost  sight  of  the  obliga¬ 
tions  that  bound  him  to  the  corpora¬ 
tion  he  served,  he  labored  faithfully, 
zealously  and  unremittingly  to  ad¬ 
vance  the  interests  of  the  people 


61 


along  the  line,  and  was  their-  cham¬ 
pion  in  the  railroad  management  of 
this  section. 


Some  reference  has  been  made  to 
Mike  Glynn.  Mike  was  a  brakeman 
in  early  days,  and  was  a  “dare  devil 
from  the  word  go”.  He  was  a  nat¬ 
ural  born  comedian,  and  a  second 
Charlie  Chaplin,  or  rather  Charlie 
might  be  termed  a  second  Mike 
Glynn,  for  Mike  was  on  earth  be¬ 
fore  the  $100,000  movie  actor  ever 
saw  daylight.  Mike’s  antics  would 
fill  a  book  the  size  of  this.  The  last 
we  knew  of  his  whereabouts  he  was 
playing  in  an  orchestra  in  Keith’s 
Theatre,  and  frequently  the  boys  of 
the  old  days  when  in  Boston  would 
drop  in  for  a  chat  with  him. 


John  E.  Davis  was  for  many  years 
station  agent  at  Warren.  For 
twenty-eight  years  George  Wilson 
run  Haverhill  station,  and  Will 
True  nearly  rounded  out  forty  years 
as  agent  at  East  Haverhill  and  “died 
in  the  harness”. 


After  the  North  Haverhill  wreck 
in  1882  a  strict  rule  was  adopted 
that  the  way  freight  should  not 
leave  Woods  ville  in  the  morning  un¬ 
til  the  freight  preceding  had  passed 
over  Warren  Summit;  and  the 
writer  remembers  how  his  father, 
station  agent  at  the  Summit  for 
years  had  to  get  out  about  2:30 
every  morning,  go  to  the  station  and 
report  the  freight  as  it  passed  over 
the  hill. 


44  Nicholas  St.,  Lewiston,  Me. 
C.  E.  Caswell: 

I  saw  in  Woodsville  News  you  are 
to  issue  a  booklet  on  the  old  B.,  C. 
&  M.  R.  R.  I  wish  when  you  get  it 
completed  you  would  let  me  know, 
as  I  am  interested  in  the  old  road. 
I  had  two  brothers  fire  on  that  road, 
and  I  w^as  well  acquainted  with  C. 
S.  and  F.  H.  Burleigh,  firemen.  1 


had  a  nephew  brake  the  Montreal 
express;  knew  all  the  Mann  boys, 
Gale  boy®,  Wells  boys,  Kenistons;, 
and  lots  of  others,  as  well  as  Joe 
Hooker,  so-called.  You  probably  re¬ 
member  some  25  years  ago  when 
they  got  out  two  new  engines  to  run 
on  the  Montreal  expresses.  Len 
Crouch  was  firing  one  of  them.  He 
came  up  one  Sunday  afternoon  and 
stopped  at  East  Haverhill  and  got 
me  to  go  on  with  the  engineer  as 
fireman  in  his  place,  so  he  could  go 
up  home;  you  remember  where  his 
folks  used  to  live  at  East  Haverhill. 
He  was  killed  on  a  log  train  on  the 
Kilkenny  after  that.  Perhaps  you 
will  remember  me;  you  printed  my 
wedding  cards  23  years  ago. 

GEORGE  J.  HARDY. 


Mention  is  made  elsewhere  that 
George  Hutchins  is  the  only  man 
working  today  who  was  working 
fifty  years  ago.  It  has  since  been 
learned  that  Orrin  H,  Bean  of  Con¬ 
cord,  an  old  time  blacksmith  in  the 
Lake  Village  shops  is  still  “pound¬ 
ing  iron”  after  fifty  years  in  the  ser¬ 
vice,  although  he  went  to  Vermont 
for  a  year  or  two  away  back  in  the 
70’s.  Mr.  Bean  sends  a  most  in- 
•  teresting  letter  which  appears  else¬ 
where. 


Concord,  N.  H.,  April  27,  1919. 

C.  E.  Caswell, 

Dear  Sir: 

You;r  letter  came  to  hand.  In  re¬ 
gard  to  my  railroad  life  there  is  but 
little  to  tell.  I  first  went  to  brake- 
ing  by  hand  on  the  Boston  &  Lowell 
in  1871.  First  year  was  on  the 
branch  road  to  Woburn,  Mass.,  10 
mile  run.  I  was  then  transferred  to 
Wilton,  N.  H.,  (or  Wilton  R.  R.,) 
running  into  Boston  every  day;  put 
in  9  years  braking,  baggage  master, 
and  the  last  2  years  spare  conductor 
from  Greenfield,  N.  H.,  to  Lowell, 
under  the  Nashua  and  Lowell  man¬ 
agement.  That  road  was  leased  to 


62 


the  B.  &  L.  again  after  two  years, 
and  in  the  new  management  did  not 
want  any  of  the  N.  &  L.  men,  so  I 
lost  my  job.  Went  to  Lake  Village 
and  went  to  firing  on  B.,  C.  &  M., 
and  put  in  a  little  over  4  years  for 
$1.50  per  day.  I  then  gave  my  no¬ 
tice  and  left.  Have  been  house  car¬ 
penter  ever  since.  During  my  firing 
I  had  one  engineer  lose  his  life  in 
Plymouth  yard  (Wooster  Dearborn). 

The  engine  we  were  on  left  iron 
on  a  switch  and  Dearborn  was  in¬ 
jured  so  he  lived  only  an  hour.  I 
well  remember  many  of  the  old  men 
who  have  been  mentioned  in  your 
articles.  I  left  the  road  because  I 
was  getting  such  small  pay  at  that 
time,  but  carpenters  here  at  Con¬ 
cord  are  now  getting  less  money 
than  some  diggers  or  mason  tend¬ 
ers.  I  am  interested  in  all  your 
articles  and  shall  prize  your  book 
highly.  I  was  brought  up  in  Hav¬ 
erhill,  N.  H.  I  fired  the  first  coal 
burning  engine  the  Warren  the  sec¬ 
ond  trip  she  made  from  Concord  to 
Woodsville.  Len  Morrill  fired  the 
first  trip  with  Jim  Badger,  engineer 
and  I  fired  the  second  with  Frank  H. 
Burleigh,  engineer. 

I  must  tell  you  a  little  story  about 
the  Passumpsic  R.  R.  For  many 
years  my  father  had  charge  of  all 
repairs  on  Dartmouth  College  build¬ 
ings;  while  there  they  had  a  meet¬ 
ing  at  Norwich,  Vt.,  to  see  about 
building  that  road  on  solicitation  of 
one  of  the  Professors.  My  father 
went  over  to  that  meeting.  They 
were  telling  how  the  Montreal  could 
never  be  built,  and  the  reasons  were 
it  was  too  hilly  and  the  people  in 
that  part  of  the  state  were  so  poor 
that  they  never  could  furnish  the 
money  and  that  the  farmers  were 
very  poor.  My  father  being  a  native 
of  Campton  and  knowing  many  peo¬ 
ple  in  that  part  of  the  state,  that 
statement  went  against  the  grain, 
and  he  did  some  plain  talking,  and 
also  made  a  prediction  at  that  time, 


that  the  road  would  be  built  and 
some  of  the  men  there  would  live 
long  enough  to  see  it  built  and  to  see 
the  Montreal  and  Canadian  business 
go  down  over  that  road  to  Boston. 
My  father  lived  long  enough  him¬ 
self  to  see  his  prediction  fulfilled, 
as  the  last  of  his  life  was  spent  on 
a  farm  a  mile  this  side  of  Haverhill 
depot  and  he  saw  train  after  train 
of  Canada  Pacificy  freight  as  well  as 
passenger  trains  go  on  their  way 
over  Warren  hill. 

Respectfully, 

JAMES  BURBECK, 

39  Auburn  St.,  Concord,  N.  H. 


Woodsville,  N.  H.,  March  31,  1919. 
Mr.  C.  E.  Caswell: 

Dear  Sir: 

When  you  have  your  book  “The 
Early  Days  of  the  B.,  C.  &  M.,”  com¬ 
pleted,  I  want  you  to  reserve  me 
forty  copies  and  perhaps  more.  I 
was  born  and  reared  in  view  of  the 
trains  and  have  been  in  their  em¬ 
ploy  28  years.  While  not  as  old  as 
some,  can  remember  many  who  have 
signed  the  call  book  for  the  last 
time.  I  commenced  work  under  E. 

F.  Mann;  then  came  W.  A.  Stowell, 

G.  E.  Cummings  and  F.  C.  Mayo,  so 
you  can  see  J.  A.  Dodge  is  the  only 
one  I  have  escaped.  I  was  thinking 
when  the  high  water  was  Friday, 
about  the  time  the  river  went  down 
the  track  at  Wentworth  station, 
washing  out  the  long  trestle  and 
wrecking  two  engines  and  some 
cars.  I  remember  a  car  of  Baldwin 
apples  which  went  down  the  brook 
and  how  I  rolled  a  barrel  of  them 
into  the  school  house  where  I  was 
going  to  school  at  the  time,  and  how 
the  scholars  and  the  teacher  got  on 
the  outside  of  a  quantity  of  them 
for  days  after. 

Then  I  used  to  be  greatly  interest¬ 
ed  in  watching  Sam  Hoit  repair 
rails  in  the  old  railshop  at  Warren. 
This  shop  was  near  the  wood  shed 
at  water  tank.  It  would  take  some 


63 


wood  now  to  feed  one  of  the  “Hogs 
and  Whales”  as  they  are  now  called 
from  Concord  to  Woodsville.  It 
would  keep  Arthur  Knapp  busy  to 
supply  it  I  think.  As  I  go  over  the 
road  there  is  many  a  thought  comes 
over  me  as  I  can  point  out  here  and 
there  where  some  poor  fellow  was 
killed  or  injured,  so  as  to  make  life 
a  burden  to  him  ever  after.  There 
are  many  places  so  near  together  I 
could  not  explain  about  them  before 
the  train  would  pass  another  place 
where  some  wreck  occurred  or  some 
one  struck  a  bridge  or  fell  from  a 
car  of  lumber  or  a  brake  chain  gave 
away  or  the  old  fork  wrench  slipped 
off.  The  brakeman  nowadays  would 
think  it  tough  work  if  he  could  do 
it  at  all,  and  I  doubt  very  much  if 
he  could  or  would. 

F.  H.  COLBY. 


The  oldest  conductor  on  this  div¬ 
ision  today  is  I.  F.  Mooney  of  Con¬ 
cord,  who  runs  a  train  between  Con¬ 
cord  and  Woodsville.  For  a  long 
time  I  wanted  Mooney  to  write 
something  with  reference  to  the  old 
road,  but  he  thought  he  couldn’t 
write  anything  fit  to  print,  yet  he  is 
full  of  old  time  railroad  experiences 
and  is  very  entertaining  on  the  sub¬ 
ject  in  conversation.  A  personal 
letter  which  he  did  not  intend  for 
publication  says: 

Friend  Caswell: 

In  answer  to  your  letter  will  say, 
one  of  the  hardest  things  for  me  to 
do  is  to  write  letters  or  try  to  make 
a  speech,  even  in  my  own  lodge 
room,  but  have  scrambled  off  a  few 
lines.  You  can  throw  out  what  you 
don’t  want.  Being  on  the  road  most 
fifty  years  I  hardly  know  where  to 
begin  or  what  to  say,  so  don’t  be 
•afraid  to  use  the  scissors. 

Yours  truly, 

I.  F.  MOONEY. 


In  speaking  of  early  days  on  the 
old  B.,  C.  &  M.  R.  R.,  I  should  have 


to  start  at  Lake  Village  as  that  was 
the  first  town  I  struck  after  leaving 
home,  a  boy  about  18  years,  the  ma¬ 
chine,  car,  paint  and  blacksmith 
shops  being  there  at  that  time. 
Ralph  Adams,  master  mechanic, 
Moses  Elkins  at  head  of  car  and 
paint  shop,  Joseph  Lougee,  boss  at 
blacksmith  shop,  Lewis  Badger,  road 
master  and  Jarve  Sanborn,  bridge 
builder,  Miles  Taylor,  station  agent. 
As  I  fired  some  over  two  years  I  was 
on  at  different  times  with  George 
Randall,  Aaron  Ferguson,  Jo.  Ayer 
and  Henry  Little,  firing  engines 
Moosilauke,  Crawford,  Coos,  Moun¬ 
tain  Maid,  all  wood  burners  and 
when  they  were  burning  thin  edgings 
from  Charles  Spaulding’s  saw  mill, 
firemen  did  not  get  much  time  to 
sit  down. 

In  speaking  of  the  old  Mountain 
Maid,  I  had  a  little  experience  with 
her  before  I  had  fired  three  weeks. 
Mr.  Badger,  road  master  and  Joe 
Hooker,  engineer  with  two  or  three 
cars  went  to  East  Tilton  to  haul  out 
some  gravel;  after  making  a  few 
trips  Joe  stopped  off  at  the  station 
and  said,  “Mooney,  run  ’em  down” — 
he  must  have  thought  that  I  had 
more  experience  but  I  did  not  say 
anything  about  that.  I  jumped  on 
and  pulled  the  throttle  wide  open 
and  started  for  the  gravel  pit.  Well 
after  going  by  two  or  three  times, 
with  the  help  of  Mr.  Badger,  we 
managed  to  stop  where  the  gravel 
was. 

The  trains  on  the  narrow  gauge 
road,  Bethlehem  Junction  to  Profile 
House  were  put  on  in  the  summer 
of  1879.  J.  A.  Dodge,  general  man¬ 
ager,  took  Conductor  Blodgett  from 
Passumpsic  division  and  myself  as 
baggage  master  to  run  the  trains. 
On  the  first  trip  over  about  3  miles 
from  Bethlehem  Junction,  the  car 
in  some  way  left  the  iron.  Mr. 
Dodge,  Mr.  Taft  and  two  or  three 
others  were  in  the  car,  and  just  be¬ 
fore  it  came  to  a  stop,  tipping  near- 


64 


These  two  cut's  are  furnished  by 
the  courtesy  of  Mr.  R.  H.  Sanford, 
manager  of  the  Baldwin  Locomotive 
Works,  Philadelphia,  showing  the  A. 
T.  &  S.  F.  Baldwin  Locomotive  No. 


3-160,  their  20th  century  creation, 
alongside  the  “Jaibo,”  a  wood  ‘burn¬ 
ing  locomotive  such  as  were  built  in 
the  ’60’s,  but  representing  a  type  of 
engines  generally  used  about  1845. 


ly  over,  Mr.  Dodge  jumped  off  and 
the  way  he  and  his  tall  hat  and  wig 
went  in  different  directions  was  a 
caution;  but  as  no  one  was  hurt 
they  all  had  a  good  laugh  getting 
over  to  Profile  some  time  before 
midnight. 

The  first  through  freight,  Woods- 
ville  to  Concord,  was  put  on  in  the 
spring  of  1871.  Chet  Carpenter  was 
conductor,  Joe  Ayer  or  “Hooker”  so- 
called  was  engineer,  myself  fireman. 


The  first  passenger  train  that  run 
from  Littleton  to  Lancaster  was  on 
July  4th,  1871,  George  Eastman, 
conductor,  William  Moore,  engineer; 
engine  Lancaster.  No  fares  were 
charged,  free  for  all,  and  the  cars 
were  loaded  to  the  steps.  John 
Demick  was  station  agent  at  Lan¬ 
caster  and  took  the  train  crews  to 
his  home  for  dinner.  There  was 
speech  making  and  a  general  good 
time. 


65 

Just  one  more  little  item  to  wind 
up  the  subject.  An  early  breakfast 
at  Ned  Caswell’s,  Warren  Summit. 
One  st.nging  cold  night  there  was  a 
broken  rail  near  the  station  at  War¬ 
ren  Summit.  The  night  express 
south  came  along  and  when  they  got 
to  that  rail  part  of  the  trains  went 
up  the  main  line  and  the  rear  taking 
the  siding,  the  sleeper  coming  to  a 
stop  right  opposite  Caswell’s  front 
door,  waking  him  up.  He  soon  had 
a  fire  and  took  us  all  in  to  a  good 
hot  breakfast,  showing  himself  a 
good  cook  as  well  as  a  good  railroad 
man. 

I.  F.  MOONEY. 

Concord,  N.  H. 


Grlencliff,  N.  H.,  April  21,  1919. 
C.  E.  Caswell, 

Dear  Sir: 

Seeing  so  much  of  late  in  the 
News  regarding  the  old  B.,  C.  &  M., 
reminds  me  of  the  time  when  my 
father,  William  Caswell  was  run¬ 
ning  a  freight,  Woodsville  to  Bos¬ 
ton,  during  the  time  of  the  Civil 
War.  Cannot  recollect  much  about 
it  being  a  small  boy,  but  have  often 
heard  him  speak  of  some  of  the  men 
who  were  working  at  the  time.  As 
I  remember  it  O.  R.  Farrar  and 
John  Butler  were  conductors; 
Charlie  Tilton  and  W.  D.  Sargent, 
better  known  as  “Dye”  were  en¬ 
gineers.  Cannot  say  how  long 
father  run;  we  lived  in  Plymouth 
for  a  time  so  he  could  get  home 
more  conveniently.  Have  an  an¬ 
nual  pass  issued  in  1864  to  father 
by  J.  A.  Dodge  and  made  good  over 
the  C.,  M.  &  L.  R.  R.,  by  J.  R.  Kend¬ 
rick.  Abe  Mitchell  was  road  master 
at  the  time. 

Yours  truly, 

CLARENCE  A.  CASWELL. 


Another  B.,  C.  &  M.  man  was  Har¬ 
ley  E.  Whiting,  who  used  to  fire  one 


of  the  old  wood  burners  previous  to 
1880.  He  went  out  west  and  was  in 
a  railroad  strike  on  the  C.,  B.  &  Q., 
in  1887  along  with  a  number  of  oth¬ 
er  B.,  C.  &  M.,  boys  who  had  western 
railroad  fever.  They  lost  out  and 
Whiting’s  people  have  never  heard 
from  him  since  and  have  no  idea  if 
he  is  dead  or  alive. 


In  a  previous  article  I  mentioned 
that  it  was  in  1880  the  extension 
from  Lancaster  to  Groveton  was 
completed,  and  1883  the  construc¬ 
tion  account  of  the  line  from  Wing 
Road  to  the  base  of  Mt.  Washington 
was  closed  at  a  cost  of  $446,000. 
Engineer  Fred  Whiting  has  written 
that  he  fired  a  gravel  train  at 
Groveton  in  the  summer  of  1872  and 
never  has  been  there  since.  The 
road  was  opened  to  Lancaster,  July 
4,  1871,  and  evidently  was  at  that 
time  under  construction,  Lancaster 
to  Groveton,  but  was  not  fully  com¬ 
pleted  until  eight  years  after. 


Back  forty  years  ago  on  special 
fair  days,  excursion  and  railroad 
meeting  days,  Curt  Leavitt  always 
run  the  excursion  trains.  He  was 
then  station  agent  at  Laconia.  He 
would  have  for  brakemen,  Dick 
Rowen,  car  inspector  at  Lake  Vil¬ 
lage,  J.  Glazebrook  and  Hi  Foss, 
shop  painters.  These  were  the 
only  men  available  for  spare  passen¬ 
ger  crews,  and  Leavitt  the  only 
man  available  who  was  capable  of 
being  conductor. 


Considerable  has  been  said  and 
written  about  the  old  Mt.  Washing¬ 
ton,  but  I  neglected  to  say  the  Mount 
Washington,  No.  29,  was  the  first  ten 
wheel  engine  ever  in  New  England. 
She  was  built  at  Blood’s  Locomotive 
Works,  Manchester,  specially  for  the 
B.,  C.  &  M.,  to  run  between  the  Base 
and  Fabyans.  Some  one  tells  me 
she  was  later  named  Carrol. 


4 


66 


One  day,  some  fifty  years  ago, 
“Dye”  Sargent  was  going  south  with 
the  Mountain  Maid  and  her  smoke 
stack  fell  off  at  a  point  near  North- 
field.  It  was  a  passenger  train  to 
which  she  was  attached,  and  the 
crew  was  made  up  of  Sargent,  as 
engineer,  Warren  Davis,  fireman, 
Peter  Hines,  conductor.  The  train 
continued  its  trip  to  Concord  and 
returned  to  Plymouth,  the  engine 
minus  her  stack. 


The  White  Mountain  Express 
when  first  put  on  the  road  attracted 
great  attention.  The  train  run  from 
Boston  to  Lancaster,  a  section  com¬ 
ing  from  Providence.  The  cars, 
like  all  passenger  cars  in  early  days 
were  painted  bright  yellow  and  on 
several  of  them  over  the  windows, 
just  beneath  the  eaves  was  painted 
the  inscription,  “White  Mountains, 
Lake  Wiinnipesaukee,  Plymouth, 
Lancaster”.  These  parlor  cars  were 
through  cars  and  said  to  have  been 
owned  by  the  Boston  &  Providence 
road.  The  B.,  C.  &  M.,  owned  one 
or  two  parlor  cars  about  that  time. 


The  lumber  with  which  to  build 
the  first  Connecticut  river  bridge  be¬ 
tween  Woodsville  and  Wells  River 
was  cut  in  the  town  of  Whitefield, 
and  sawed  out  at  a  mill  located 
about  where  the  Brown’s  Lumber 
Co.’s  mills  later  stood.  It  was 
floated  down  the  John’s  river  to  the 
Connecticut  at  a  point  near  or  just 
below  the  bridge,  and  hauled  out  and 
framed  on  the  land  where  the  pres¬ 
ent  railroad  station  now  stands. 


In  June  1861,  on  account  of  the 
Civil  War,  railroad  business  was 
very  much  depressed.  Freight 
trains  ran  between  Concord  and 
Woodsville  only  three  days  in  a 
week;  a  freight  would  come  from 
Concord  to  Woodsville  in  one  day 
and  return  the  next.  North  of 
Woodsville  they  run  two  days  in  a 


week.  In  1864  business  had  in¬ 
creased  in  a  small  degree  and  they 
run  through  to  Boston.  William 
Caswell,  an  uncle  of  mine  run  one 
of  the  through  freights  as  conduc¬ 
tor  during  the  Civil  War,  and  later 
was  made  car  tracer  for  the  old 
•road,  a  position  which  “Web” 
Stearns  later  held. 


The  use  of  flat  cars  for  lumber 
gradually  increased,  and  it  became 
on  freight  trains  a  question  of  get¬ 
ting  box  cars  enough  together  for 
brakes  to  hold  the  trains  down  the 
hills.  Finally  brakes  were  put  on 
a  few  of  the  flat  cars.  They  real¬ 
ized  they  must  put  something  on  the 
fiat  cars  that  would  not  interfere 
with  the  loading  of  lumber.  The 
first  brakes  used  did  not  drop  out; 
they  had  an  arrangement  where  a 
part  of  the  ratchet  wheel  came  up 
and  let  the  brake  shaft  and  head  tip 
over  into  a  place  cut  out  for  it  on 
the  platform  of  the  car.  This 
worked  for  a  while,  but  someone 
thought  of  the  “T”  head  brake  with 
a  drop  shaft,  which  has  been  in  use 
ever  since.  Then  came  a  question 
of  getting  the  cars  properly  loaded 
and  having  the  brakes  in  good 
shape  for  putting  them  up.  They 
tell  me  the  first  man  to  use  a  wrench 
of  any  kind  on  a  flat  car  was  Henry 
Mann.  He  used  to  take  a  large 
monkey  wrench  and  use  that.  Af¬ 
terwards  they  foupd  that  the  rail 
forks  that  the  section  men  used  to 
lift  rails  with  were  better  than  a 
wrench.  The  progressive  ( ?) 
spirit  of  the  management  at  that 
time  would  not  allow  the  shops  to 
make  forks  for  the  brakemen  to  put 
up  brakes  with,  so  they  used  to  con¬ 
fiscate  them  from  the  section  men 
along  the  line,  as  the  hand-car 
houses  were  usually  locked  with  a 
switch  lock.  I  don’t  believe  the 
brakemen  of  the  present  day  have 
much  idea  what  it  was  to  start  out 
from  Woodsville  with  20  or  25  cars 


67 

of  lumber  without  a  box  car  in  the 
train,  with  one  brakeman  and  hold 
the  train  down  Warren  Summit  and 
stop  at  Warren. 


I  have  through  lots  of  research, 
learned  that  the  old  Chocorua  was 
the  pet  engine  of  the  road  fifty  years 
ago.  Henry  Little  run  her,  and  she 
had  more  brass  on  her  than  all  the 
other  engines  on  the  road  put  to¬ 
gether  at  the  present  time.  Henry 
was  so  proud  of  her  that  he  had  a 
lot  of  old  canvas  that  he  used  to 
cover  her  up  with  when  she  was  in 
the  engine  house. 


About  1875  it  was  thought  it 
would  be  profitable  to  have  a  parlor 
car  run  from  the  boat  connections 
at  New  London,  Conn.,  into  the 
mountains,  so  the  Norwich  &  Wor¬ 
cester  road  bought  one  car  and  the 
B.,  C.  &  M.,  road  bought  the  other, 
so  as  to  have  two  cars  in  the  run. 
Mr.  Cummings  says  he  went  with 
Superintendent  Dodge  to  Concord 
when  the  car  arrived  and  ran  an  ex¬ 
tra  from  Concord  to  Lancaster  to 
see  if  the  car  would  clear  the  plat¬ 
forms  and  everything  along  the  line. 
This  was  the  first  parlor  car  run 
over  the  road.  This  parlor  car,  like 
the  other  passenger  coaches  was  of 
bright  lemon-yellow  and  had  a  long 
single  window  on  either  side,  and 
was  named  the  “Plymouth”.  It  run 
summers  for  a  number  of  years  in 
charge  of  Albert  Kidder  as  conduc¬ 
tor.  Later  the  car  was  remodeled 
and  run  for  a  number  of  years  as  a 
passenger  car  on  the  road.  Later 
the  road  bought  several  more  parlor 
cars  or  had  them  made  at  Laconia 
Car  Shops. 


The  first  sleeping  car  over  the 
Boston,  Concord  &  Montreal  came 
up  with  General  Grant  when  he 
made  his  trip  through  New  Hamp¬ 
shire.  The  road  was  at  that  time 
being  built  between  Wing  Road  and 


Fabyan,  and  Grant’s  car  succeeded 
in  getting  as  far  as  Twin  Mountains. 
It  was  drawn  by  the  Lady,  and  I 
have  before  me  a  picture  of  the  en¬ 
gine  as  she  looked  on  that  trip;  an 
American  flag  adorns  the  front  from 
the  pilot  over  the  left  steam  chest 
and  many  other  flags  and  bunting 
decorate  her  boiler,  cab  and  tender. 


The  Boston,  Concord  &  Montreal 
was  pretty  hard  up  financially  be¬ 
fore  the  lease  to  the  Boston  &  Low¬ 
ell.  It  was  pretty  well  run  out  of 
everything.  Often  in  case  of  broken 
rails,  trains  would  sometimes  have 
to  stop  and  go  to  the  nearest  siding 
and  get  out  a  rail  to  put  in  place  of 
the  broken  one.  Speaking  of  rails, 
brings  to  mind  the  fact  that  the  first 
rails  were  18  feet  long,  56  pounds  to 
the  yard.  Some  of  these  same  rails 
are  in  use  in  some  of  the  sidings  up 
in  the  mountains  at  the  present  day. 
They  were  English  iron  and  made  to 
last. 


Forty  years  ago  the  spare  crew  of 
trackmen  consisted  of  Jim  Rowen, 
foreman;  E.  K.  Foss,  John  Sanborn, 
Michael  and  John  Fitzpatrick  and 
Joseph  Steele.  John  Fitzpatrick  is 
at  the  present  day  section  foreman 
at  Belmont.  Henry  Fitzpatrick  is 
an  engineer  at  Lakeport.  Alonzo 
Foss,  nicknamed  “Skibo”,  was  a 
brakeman  on  the  old  road  forty-five 
years  ago  and  is  now  employed  about 
the  round-house  at  Lakeport. 
Charles  E.  Leavitt,  another  old  B., 
C.  &  M.,  man  is  now  traveling  aud¬ 
itor  for  the  Boston  &  Maine,  and  re¬ 
sides  at  Laconia.  Will  Connor,  an¬ 
other  old  time  engineer  is  now  em¬ 
ployed  in  the  car  shops  at  Laconia. 
Miss  Hattie  Crawford  of  Lancaster, 
Mrs.  Plummer  of  Ashland  and  Miss 
Carrie  Moore  of  Lisbon  did  good 
work  for  the  old  road,  an  honor  to 
themselves  and  profession  in  which 
they  were  engaged.  For  many  years 


68 


they  held  down  the  telegraph  key  at  of  the  legislature  passed  a  resolu- 
various  stations  along  the  line.  tion  prohibiting  Mr.  Dodge  ever 

-  again  running  a  train  as  conductor, 

H.  G.  Weeks  whose  native  town  is  and  Mr.  Foss  from  ever  again  work- 


Rumney,  is  a  present  day  C.  P.  pas¬ 
senger  conductor  between  Newport 
and  Boston.  He  started  in  when  a 
lad  on  the  old  road  and  never  had 
occasion  to  regret  that  he  chose 
railroading  as  his  life  profession. 
In  his  early  days  as  well  as  today 
he  was  always  a  faithful  employee. 
His  home  is  at  Newport,  Vt.  The 
oldest  employee  on  the  Portland 
Division  of  the  Boston  &  Maine  is 
George  Smith,  telegraph  operator  at 
Sanbornville.  George  Smith  was 
one  of  the  first  telegraph  operators 
the  old  Boston,  Concord  &  Montreal 
road  ever  had.  The  old  boys  of 
forty  years  ago  love  and  respect 
the  fatherly  old  soul. 


Elsewhere  mention  is  made  of  the 
first  wreck  the  road  ever  had,  which 
took  place  at  the  Weirs,  October 
1852.  There  was  an  excursion  train 
coming  north  from  the  state  fair 
which  was  held  at  Meredith  Bridge 
(Laconia)  on  that  day,  Dodge  was 
conductor  and  J.  Foss,  engineer  of 
the  train.  There  was  a  large  crowd 
on  board  and  some  had  gotten  on  the 
pilot  (cow-catcher  of  the  engine  as 
it  was  called  in  those  times)  to 
avoid  paying  their  fare.  The  train 
was  stopped  on  Weirs  bridge  to  col¬ 
lect  the  fares.  Weirs  bridge  was  a 
tressle  a  mile  or  so  south  of  the  rail¬ 
road  station.  Since  that  time  there 
has  been  a  “fill”  at  the  bridge  and 
there  is  now  a  small  pond  on  one 
side  of  the  track  and  the  lake  op¬ 
posite.  The  supposition  was  if  the 
train  stopped  on  the  bridge  none  of 
the  passengers  could  escape.  While 
the  train  was  stopped  there  a  fol¬ 
lowing  train  came  along  and  crashed 
into  the  rear  killing  six  people  and 
injuring  forty. 

This  wreck  was  in  the  fall  of  1852 
— 67  years  ago  and  the  next  session 


ing  as  engineer  on  any  railroad  in 
the  state  of  New  Hampshire. 


CLARENCE  W.  ADAMS, 

An  old  time  B.',  C.  &  M.  Engineer 
and  All-Around  Railroad  Man. 
Present  day  Station  Agent  at 
Tilton. 


Walter  S.  Keniston,  present  day 
scale  tester  for  the  Boston  &  Maine 
system  with  headquarters  at  Lowell, 
started  railroading  41  years  ago, 
when  he  was  16  years  old.  He  was 
born  and  raised  in  Northfield  and 
began  work  for  the  road  by  sawing 
wood,  after  which  he  was  section 


69 


man  a  short  time  when  he  went  to 
braking.  Prom  that  time  he  has 
learned  railroading  in  its  various 
branches.  He  has  seen  great 
changes  from  the  link  and  pin,  hand 
brake  and  wood  burner,  and  has 
kept  abreast  of  the  times  as  the 
years  have  passed. 


The  through  freight  trains  in  early 
days  were  run  through  to  Hay  mark¬ 
et  Square,  Boston,  and  made  two 
trips  a  week.  In  the  very  earliest 
days  of  the  road  it  was  a  custom  of 
the  way  freight  conductor  to  carry 
a  small  box  similar  in  size  to  an  or¬ 
dinary  cigar  box  with  a  slot  in  the 
top  or  cover.  At  the  stations  where 
there  was  local  freight  to  be  trans¬ 
ported  by  the  natives  from  one  town 
to  another,  the  conductor  fixed  the 
charge  according  to  his  own  judg¬ 
ment  according  to  its  size  and 
weight,  25  cents,  50  cents  or  what¬ 
ever  the  case  might  be,  when  the 
shipper  would  deposit  the  sufficient 
amount  of  cash.  At  the  end  of  the 
run  the  conductor  would  go  to  the 
depot,  empty  his  cash  box  and  check 
up  his  freight  accounts.  For  a  num¬ 
ber  of  years  passengers  were  al¬ 
lowed  to  ride  on  freight  trains  at 
the  regular  rate  of  car  fare.  If 
they  had  no  ticket  the  conductor  was 
supposed  to  collect  the  fare  and  turn 
it  in  to  the  road.  This  method 
worked  to  the  detriment  of  the  cor¬ 
poration  and  was  eventually  correc¬ 
ted  by  the  issuing  of  strict  rules. 


When  the  road  was  first  opened 
the  tickets  were  sold  and  re-sold. 

'  For  instance,  a  ticket  from  Laconia 
to  Tilton  read  Meredith  Bridge — 
Sanbornton  Bridge.  This  ticket  was 
purchased  for  passage,  taken  up  by 
the  conductor  and  later  returned  to 
be  re-sold;  this  being  done  until  it 
was  worn  out  or  so  badly  soiled  as 
to  be  worthless.  The  ticket  was 
good  in  either  direction. 


I  came  across  an  issue  of  the  Con¬ 
cord  Statesman  containing  mention 
of  opening  the  road  and  first  train  to 
Plymouth.  In  part  the  account 
said:  “The  train  had  at  least  100 

tons  of  merchandise  on  board,  which 
with  the  well  filled  cars,  taxed 
heavily  the  ‘iron  horses’  the  ‘Josiah 
Quincy’  and  the  ‘John  McDuffee’  the 
former  bearing  the  name  of  the 
President  of  the  road  and  the  latter 
that  of  the  old  ‘veteran’  surveyor. 
This  was  on  Friday,  January  18, 
1850  and  regular  service  commenced 
on  the  following  Monday,  the  21st, 
as  follows:  Leave  Boston  for  Ply¬ 
mouth  at  7:30  a.  m.,  leave  Plymouth 
for  Boston  at  12:25  p.  m.  A  train 
also  ran  from  Lake  Village  leaving 
there  at  8:30  a.  m.,  also  one  left 
Boston  for  Lake  Village  at  12  noon. 
On  Monday  May  6,  1850  the  schedule 
was,  leave  Plymouth  for  Boston  at 
7:50  a.  m.,  and  2  p.  m.,  leave  Boston 
for  Plymouth  at  7:30  a.  m.,  and  12 
noon. 


Along  about  1871  the  supply  of 
lumber  at  the  lumber  mills  com¬ 
menced  to  fail  up  and  the  lumber 
dealers  turned  their  attention  to 
getting  logs  into  their  mills  by  some 
other  method  than  by  ox  teams. 
The  Littleton  Lumber  Company  first 
started  to  send  logs  from  Wing  Road 
to  their  mills  at  South  Littleton 
(Willowdale)  by  rail.  The  first  logs 
loaded  were  cut  into  car  lengths. 
Previous  to  this  there  had  been  cut 
in  the  towns  of  Littleton  and  White- 
field  long  masts  60  to  a  hundred  feet 
in  length,  and  these  masts  were 
loaded  on  to  flat  cars  with  bunks  on 
them,  so  it  occurred  to  Mr.  Dodge 
that  the  road  might  use  bunks  on 
flat  oars  for  ordinary  business.  The 
road  had  some  bunks  made  and  put 
on  some  fiat  cars  and  they  worked 
very  successfully  until  it  came  to 
logging  on  steep  grades  where  they 
could  not  get  power  enough  to  get 


the  empty  cars  into  the  woods. 
Then  it  was  they  commenced  to  look 
for  something  that  could  be  used  for 
hauling  logs  without  having  so 
much  dead  weight.  About  this  time 
the  road  condemned  a  lot  of  old 
cars,  and  they  had  the  truck  frames 
left.  These  truck  frames  were  not 
considered  safe  to  run  under  cars, 
so  they  went  to  work  and  took  them 
to  the  shop  and  put  draw  bars  on 
them  with  bunks,  and  the  result  was 
a  log  truck  about  such  as  is  used  on 
the  lumber  roads  today  all  over  the 
country.  Later  brakes  were  added 
and  other  improvements  made  so 
that  the  log  truck  formed  an  im¬ 
portant  part  of  the  road  equipment 
for  many  years  after. 


0 


In  the  ’8O3  important  changes 
came  to  the  old  road,  and  a  few 
years  later  it  passed  out  of  exist¬ 
ence.  After  Mr.  Lyons  died,  his 
mercantile  partner  in  Boston,  Mr. 
Vose,  was  appointed  president  of  the 
road.  Mr.  Vose  had  no  experience 
whatever  in  railroading  and  did  not 
like  it.  Soon  after  Mr.  Dodge’s 
death  the  Boston  &  Lowell  road 
made  the  B.,  C.  &  M.,  directors  an 
offer  to  lease  the  Boston,  Concord  & 
Montreal,  and  this  offer  the  directors 
accepted,  and  the  Boston  &  Lowell 
took  possession  of  the  B.,  C.  &  M. 
road  in  1884.  It  was  run  as  the 
White  Mountain  division  of  the  Bos¬ 
ton  &  Lowell  road  until  1889,  when 
the  Concord  railroad,  having  se¬ 
cured  a  majority  of  the  B.,  C.  &  M., 
stock,  broke  the  lease  and  brought 
about  a  consolidation  of  the  B.,  C.  & 
M.  road,  and  the  Concord  road  under 
the  name  of  the  Concord  &  Mon¬ 
treal  Railroad. 


The  Concord  &  Montreal  operated 
the  road  until  1895,  when  it  was 
leased  to  the  Boston  &  Maine,  and 
has  since  been  run  as  the  White 
Mountain  division  of  the  Boston  & 
Maine. 


RALPH  ADAMS, 

Master  Mechanic  forty  years  ago.  and  ai 


Chester  S.  Carpenter,  now  retired 
and  residing  at  Littleton  is  an  old 
time  railroad  man.  He  was  born 
and  raised  on  a  farm  in  the  town  of 
Bath,  N.  IT.,  and  went  to  work  for 
the  old  road  in  1866,  when  he  was  21 
years  of  age,  and  put  in  47  years  at 
it.  He  went  down  to  Plymouth  one 
day  “from  his  father’s  farm,  fresh 
from  the  stump  and  green  as  a 
gourd”  as  he  puts  it,  and  got  a  job 
braking.  He  never  before  that  day 
had  climbed  the  ladder  of  a  box  car 
and  scarcely  knew  a  pin  from  a 
link.  He  was  instructed  to  take  a 
freight  for  Woodsville  with  Frank 
Butler,  conductor.  He  made  the 
trip  to  Woodsville  without  mishap 
so  the  return  trip  to  Lake 


71 

Village,  the  terminal  of  the  run. 
On  arriving  at  Lake  Village  that 
night  he  was  ordered  to  Northfield 
with  an  extra.  He  didn’t  know  the 
road  or  not  even  a  signal  that  morn¬ 
ing.  He  went  on  to  Northfield  and 
returned  with  the  engine.  Thus 
ended  his  first  day  of  railroading. 


CHESTER  S.  CARPENTER. 


Prom  then  on  he  actually  grew  up 
with  the  road.  He  put  in  seventeen 
years  as  brakeman  and  spare  con¬ 
ductor  most  of  the  time  on  the 
Mountain  road;  later  he  was  con¬ 
ductor  for  ten  successive  years  be¬ 
tween  Woodsville  and  Lancaster,  af¬ 
ter  returning  from  Lancaster  he 
would  make  up  a  train  and  start  for 
Concord  most  of  the  time  without  a 
brakeman,  the  fireman  of  the  train 


assisting  as  brakeman.  He  was  in¬ 
jured  at  Wing  Road  which  laid  him 
up  for  four  years,  after  which  he 
run  the  stock  train  two  years  and 
then  went  to  firing  in  1886.  In  1890 
he  was  promoted  to  engineer  in 
which  capacity  he  worked  up  to  the 
time  he  retired  six  years  ago,  most 
of  the  time  his  run  being  on  the 
branch  between  Wing  Road  and 
Fabyans.  “Chet”  Carpenter  was 
never  in  a  wreck  caused  by  his  own 
carelessness  for  he  was  a  careful 
driver  and  retired  six  years  ago 
with  forty-seven  years  of  faithful 
railroad  service  to  his  credit. 


The  men  who  helped  to  make 
railroad  history  in  the  old  B.,  C.  & 
M.,  days  forty-five  years  ago,  and 
from  then  down  to  the  time  the  old 
road  passed  out  of  existence,  learned 
to  love  and  respect  William  D.  Sar¬ 
gent,.  “Dye”  Sargent  was  born  May 
18,  1838,  in  Loudon,  N.  H.  His 
school  years  were  spent  in  the  pub¬ 
lic  schools  of  his  native  town.  At 
the  age  of  seventeen  he  began  to 
fight  life’s  battle  in  earnest,  ac¬ 
cepting  a  situation  on  the  old  Bos¬ 
ton,  Concord  &  Montreal.  “Dye” 
Sargent  had  no  false  pride,  and  was 
rot  ashamed  to  begin  at  the  bottom 
of  the  ladder,  knowing  full  well  that 
efficient  service  meant  sure  promo¬ 
tion.  For  thirty  years  he  was  con¬ 
nected  with  the  road  as  a  trainman, 
being  an  engineer  twenty-four  years 
of  that  time.  In  1885  he  was  ap¬ 
pointed  foreman  of  the  shops  and 
engine  house  at  Woodsville.  He 
characterized  his  connection  with 
the  railroad  by  careful,  intelligent, 
and  thorough  work  in  whatever  line 
he  was  engaged.  He  was  a  Demo¬ 
crat  in  politics.  Socially  he  was  a 
member  of  the  Mount  Lebanon 
lodge.  No.  32,  F.  &  A.  M. 


Lawrence  K.  Ford  was  employed 
on  the  B.,  C.  &  M.,  and  is  one  of  the 
present  day  passenger  conductors 


72 

on  the  Boston  &  Maine,  residing  at 
Woods  ville.  He  was  horn  May  19, 
1857,  in  Lyman,  N.  H.,  where  he  at¬ 
tended  school  and  worked  as  brake- 
man  during  his  summer  vacations. 
He  was  faithful  and  efficient  in  the 
employ  of  the  road  and  was  soon  ad¬ 
vanced  to  the  position  of  freight 
conductor,  and  then,  to  that  of  bag¬ 
gage  master.  For  two  years  and  a 
half  he  worked  a  farm,  but  went 
back  to  the  road  in  1880,  acting  as 
brakeman  a  year,  freight  conductor 
five  years  and  since  then  has  been  a 
passenger  conductor.  He  is  a  mem¬ 
ber  of  Kane  Lodge,  F.,  A.  &  M.,  No. 
64;  Franklin  Chapter,  No.  5;  Omega 
Council,  No.  9;  St.  Girard  Comman- 
dery  K.  T.;  (Edw.  A.  Raymond  Con¬ 
sistory.  Also  a  member  of  Order  of 
Railway  Conductors. 


I  would  not  feel  I  was  doing  jus¬ 
tice  to  this  railroad  article  if  I 
failed  to  mention  Enoch  C.  Dearth, 
who  was  born  in  Bath,  in  1864. 
Enoch  Dearth  was  a  particular 
friend  of  mine.  He  was  a  good 
railroad  man  and  respected  by  every 
man  on  the  system.  He  was  twen¬ 
ty-two  years  old  when  he  started 
work  for  the  old  road.  He  used  to 
run  as  freight  brakeman  between 
Concord  and  Woodsville  winters  and 
baggage  master  in  the  summer 
months;  this  he  continued  for  four 
years  when  he  was  appointed  con¬ 
ductor  of  one  of  the  freights  on  the 
main  line.  I  often  used  to  hear  him 
spoken  of  as:  “Enoch  is  the  salt  of 
the  earth”.  That  was  very  true. 
He  died  three  years  ago  at  his  home 
in  Bath. 


George  A.  Dimond  was  another  B. 
C.  &  M.  man.  He  was  born  in  Dor¬ 
chester,  N.  H.  He  started  as  fire¬ 
man  and  was  in  due  time  advanced 
to  engineer.  He  was  on  a  passen¬ 
ger  run  one  season,  but  much  pre¬ 
ferred  the  freight  service. 


Almon  G.  Webster,  a  present  day 
engineer,  learned  railroading  on  the 
old  road.  “Al”  Webster  was  born  in 
Franklin,  N.  H.,  August  6,  1863. 

His  father  was  Orris  D.  Webster. 
Young  Webster  was  reared  in 
Franklin  and  secured  a  good  edu- 
there  in  the  common  schools 


ALMON  G.  WEBSTER, 

B.,  C.  &  M.  man  and  present  day 
Boston  &  Maine  engineer. 


and  in  the  high  school;  when  he 
was  sixteen  he  clerked  in  a  store  for 
about  a  year,  when  he  began  his  con¬ 
nection  with  the  B.,  C.  &  M.,  becom¬ 
ing  fireman.  For  five  years  he  faith¬ 
fully  discharged  the  duties  of  his 
position  and  was  rewarded  for  his 
general  good  conduct  and  efficient 
work  by  being  promoted  to  the  po- 


sition  of  engineer  in  1885;  since 
that  time  he  has  faithfully  dis¬ 
charged  his  duties  on  the  three  sys¬ 
tems  and  at  the  present  day,  like 
many  other  good  men  who  have 
gone  out  from  Franklin,  taken  their 


gan  life  as  fireman.  Six  years  of 
faithful  service  won  for  him  a  loco¬ 
motive  to  run,  and  during  the  re¬ 
mainder  of  his  natural  life  he  was 
one  of  the  faithful  railroad  men. 


places  in  the  world,  an  honor  to 
themselves,  the  home  town  of  the 
Great  Statesman  and  helped  to  make 
conditions  better,  is  giving  to  the 
world  the  best  there  is  in  him. 


The  last  work  ever  done  by  Wil¬ 
bur  C.  Stearns  of  Plymouth,  was  as 
claim  agent  for  the  Boston  &  Maine 
Railroad.  “Web”  Stearns  was  born 
at  Danville,  Vt.,  in  1821.  He  was 
educated  in  the  public  schools  of  his 
home  town.  At  the  age  of  thirteen 
he  began  to  support  himself  and  to 
assist  his  mother  in  maintaining  the 
family.  Young  as  he  was  then,  he 
commenced  to  drive  a  stage  between 
Danville  and  Barton,  Vt.,  a  drive  of 
twenty-five  miles;  he  kept  this  up 
during  the  summer,  and  attended 
school  the  following  winter.  He  al¬ 
so  learned  the  trade  of  harness 
maker,  and  could  make  a  good  harn¬ 
ess  even  at  that  age.  For  a  few 
years  before  he  had  entirely  relin¬ 
quished  the  whip  and  reins,  he  was 
employed  by  the  B.,  C.  &  M.,  as 
tracer  of  cars  and  lost  freight. 
When  he  discontinued  staging,  he 
still  remained  with  the  railroad  in 
that  capacity,  which  he  held  until 
the  change  #  in  management,  after 
which  he  *  became  special  claim 
agent.  He  lived  in  Plymouth  thirty- 
five  years  or  more. 


Forty-Seven  Years  in  Railroad 
Service  and  a  present-day  driver. 


FRED  S.  WHITING 


There  was  a  washout  at  Went¬ 
worth  in  the  fall  of  1858  which  cost 
the  road  $541.72  according  to  the 
director’s  report. 


Most  of  the  older  men  on  the  road 
today  remember  Joe  Chesman,  en¬ 
gineer  who  died  suddenly  in  the 
prime  of  life  not  many  years  since. 
When  sixteen  years  old  Joe  was 
thrown  on  his  own  resources  and  be¬ 


Charles  L.  Cummings,  (present 
day  engineer)  was  born  in  the  vil¬ 
lage  of  “Woodville”,  Sept.  22,  1858. 
Charles  L.  Cummings  is  one  of  eight 
of  the  old-time  engineers  running 
today,  and  is  a  brother  of  Ex-Supt. 
G.  E.  Cummings.  Charles  Cum¬ 
mings  spent  his  early  years  until 
the  age  of  fourteen  in  the  schools  of 


74 

x 


Woodsville  and  at  the  age  of  fifteen, 
when  he  made  his  first  trip  as  a 
fireman  on  an  engine,  61  years  ago. 
He  had  worked  about  the  round¬ 
house  a  year  and  a  half  before  this, 
familiarizing  himself  with  machin¬ 
ery.  He  served  as  fireman  about 
seven  years,  when  he  was  given  his 
present  position  a s  engineer.  Al¬ 
though  rather  young  for  so  import¬ 
ant  a  position,  he  has  shown  by  his 
steady,  careful  work  that  he  was 
fully  capable  of  filling  the  position. 


Sadness  and  gloom  prevailed 
among  the  railroad  men  one  summer 
day  four  years  ago  when  came  the 
sad  news  announcing  the  death  of 
“Herb”  Gale  at  Old  Orchard,  Me. 
He  was  in  poor  health  and  passing 
a  few  weeks  at  the  sea  shore  en¬ 
deavoring  to  regain  his  normal  con¬ 
dition  that  he  might  resume  his  run 
on  the  Berlin  freight,  a  position  he 
had  faithfully  held  for  more  than 
sixteen  years.  Elsewhere  in  this 
book  the  name  of  “Herb”  Gale  is 
mentioned,  and  people  in  the  north 
country  would  never  tire  of  reading 
about  such  a  man  as  he  was. 

Herbert  Clinton  Gale  was  born  at 
North  Haverhill,  Nov.  22,  1858;  he 
was  the  son  of  Charles  A.  and  Laura 
G.  (Wetherbee)  Gale,  and  grandson 
of  Daniel  Gale,  Jr.  Daniel  Gale,  Jr., 
was  a  son  of  Daniel  Gale,  Sr.,  who 
was  an  expert  blacksmith,  and 
served  in  that  capacity  in  the  War 
of  the  Revolution;  it  is  said  of  him 
that  he  once  shod  Gen.  Washington’s 
horse;  whenever  the  matter  was 
brought  up  he  would  never  fail  to  re¬ 
mark  jocosely  that  he  put  a  silver 
nail  into  the  shoe. 

Herbert  C.  Gale  lived  all  the  years 
of  his  minority  at  North  Haverhill, 
leaving  there  in  1880  for  Grand  Rap¬ 
ids,  Mich.,  where  he  took  a  position 
on  the  Chicago  &  West  Michigan  R. 
R.,  running  from  Grand  Rapids  to 
La  Cross,  Ind.  After  four  years  in 
the  west,  in  which  time  he  became 


thoroughly  acquainted  with  railroad 
work,  he  returned  to  Haverhill  and 
secured  a  situation  with  the  Boston, 
Concord  &  Montreal,  as  brakeman. 
He  held  this  job  fourteen  months 
and  was  then  made  yard  master  for 
a  year  and  then  advanced  to  freight 
conductor  between  Woodsville  and 
Concord,  later  being  transferred  to 
the  Mountain  road  where  he  run  one 
of  the  Berlin  freights  for  more  than 
sixteen  years.  In  June  1886  at  East 
Haverhill,  he  married  Miss  Minnie 
Merrill,  daughter  of  the  late  Simeon 
T.  Merrill.  This  union  resulted  in 
three  children,  Morris  M.,  Lynn  A., 
and  Errol  C. 


In  conversation  with  Nelson  Hea- 
cock  of  Rumney,  who  was  section 
foreman  at  the  time  of  the  washout 
at  Wentworth  42  years  ago  when  the 
Franconia  and  Moosilauke  were 
smashed  and  John  Marsh  went  down 
the  swift  current,  saving  himself  by 
clutching  some  alder  bushes,  Hea- 
cock  tells  us  Uncle  John  said  his  lo¬ 
comotive  as  she  plunged  into  the 
water  sent  forth  excruciating  groans 
like  a  dying  horse  would.  He  said 
after  the  wreck  Marsh  was  given  an 
easier  job  on  a  gravel  train  between 
Warren  Summit  and  Lake  Village. 


Another  of  the  old  section  men 
was  Riley  Avery  of  Rumney.  An 
amusing  story  is  told  of  him  when 
he  attended  school.  The  school  was 
kept  in  an  old  building  heated  by  a 
fireplace  and  between  the  hearth 
brick  and  the  floor  the  rats  had  at 
some  time  made  a  hole.  As  a  pun¬ 
ishment  for  using  profane  language 
in  school  the  teacher  sentenced  Ri¬ 
ley  to  sit  astride  of  this  rat  hole  un¬ 
til  he  should  see  a  rat  come  through. 
After  some  time  as  chance  would 
have  it  a  rat  made  his  appearance 
and  no  sooner  was  he  out  of  the 
hole  than  the  boy  grabbed  him  and 
jumping  to  his  feet  rushed  in  the 
teacher’s  direction,  yelling  and 


75 


swinging  the  rat.  The  teacher’s  in¬ 
dignation  can  be  imagined  when  you 
realize  that  the  boy  had  to  take  his 
meals  standing  for  about  a  week  af¬ 
ter. 


FERNANDO  C.  GALE. 


A  present  day  engineer  who 
learned  railroading  on  the  old  road 
is  Fernando  C.  Gale.  Young  Gale 
was  born  in  Haverhill,  May  26, 
1858.  He  finished  his  education  at 
the  oild  Newbury  Academy  at  the  age 
of  eighteen,  and  went  to  work  in  his 
father’s  blacksmith  shop  and  until 
he  became  of  age,  when  he  bought  a 
small  farm  which  he  worked  in  con¬ 
nection  with  his  trade.  In  1880  he 
went  to  work  for  the  railroad  in  the 
shops  at  Woodsville,  where  he  work¬ 
ed  a  year  and  then  became  fireman; 
he  fired  on  the  road  four  years,  when 


he  received  orders  to  take  charge  of 
an  engine  and  has  had  his  hand  on 
the  throttle  ever  since. 


Moody  C.  Mars  ton  was  bom  in 
Haverhill,  Aug.  10,  1840.  He  was  on 
his  father’s  farm  for  a  few  years, 
went  through  the  Civil  War,  came 
back,  learned  the  shoemaker’s  trade 
at  Lynn,  Mass.,  engaged  in  the 
wheelwright  business  at  Haverhill, 
selling  out  and  going  to  work  for 
the  B.,  C.  &  M.,  as  watchman,  grad¬ 
ually  working  his  way  up  to  con¬ 
ductor,  retaining  that  position  until 
1882.  He  run  the  stock  train  a 
number  of  years,  after  which  he 
went  to  farming  again. 


Fred  P.  Dearth,  a  popular  insur¬ 
ance  man  at  Woodsville  was  in  his 
younger  days  a  railroad  man.  For 
seven  years  he  was  with  the  old 
Boston,  Concord  &  Montreal. 

Back  in  February  1880  there  came 
down  from  Sutton,  in  the  Province 
of  Quebec,  a  19  year  old  lad,  Chas. 
Nelson  Davison  and  secured  a  job 
firing  an  old  wood  burner,  and  two 
years  later  took  charge  of  an  engine, 
running  passenger  trains  summers 
and  freights  winters  between  Woods¬ 
ville  and  Fabyans.  Mr.  Davison  has 
since  retired  from  railroad  service 
and  is  engaged  in  the  bakery  busi¬ 
ness  at  Woodsville.  , 

Carroll  Gillett  was  another  old- 
time  section  man  at  Rumney.  Dur¬ 
ing  the  Rebellion  he  was  an  express 
messenger  in  the  south.  Behind  the 
lines  on  this  side  I  suppose,  as  he 
was  a  pensioner  until  his  death, 
about  a  year  and  a  half  ago.  His 
son  Claude  Gillett  was  also  a  rail¬ 
road  man,  (fireman)  in  the  west  and 
was  scalded  in  a  wreck  in  a  snow- 
slide  about  a  year  ago.  He  died  a 


76 


few  days  after  and  the  body  was 
brought  east  and  buried  in  -the  fam¬ 
ily  lot  at  Rumney. 


r  I  have  before  me  about  a  dozen 
trip  passes  issued  to  my  father  who 
was  an  employee  of  the  old  road. 
One  is  from  Littleton  to  Concord  on 
account  of  Engine  Department;  is 
signed  by  J.  A.  Dodge,  Supt.,  and 
counter-signed  by  F.  W.  C.  Whittier. 
The  date  is  Plymouth,  June  20,  1868. 
Another  was  issued  to  my  mother  a 
year  and  a  half  before  I  was  born. 
This  likewise  was  signed  by  Mr. 
Dodge.  Another  was  given  by  Bax¬ 
ter  P.  Kimball,  road  master.  These 
passes  are  filled  out  on  the  usual 
blank  forms.  I  find  another  Woods- 
vill-e  to  Warren  Summit,  signed  by 
Mr.  Dodge,  dated  Dec.  5,  the  year  be¬ 
ing  omitted  and  the  pass  being 
written  on  a  scrap  of  ruled  letter 
paper. 


Melvin  Clifford  of  Lakeport,  who 
succeeded  Baxter  P.  Kimball  as  road 
master,  died  suddenly  of  heart  fail¬ 
ure  the  latter  part  of  June,  1897. 


Thirty  to  forty  years  ago:  There 
was  Frank  and  George  (Stub)  Robie, 
(Frank  is  in  the  harness  today) ; 
Byron  Gordon  run  helpers  for  years. 
He  is  still  living  but  quite  feeble, 
making  his  home  with  a  daughter, 
Mrs.  Freeman  Downing  at  Stinson 
Lake,  Rumney;  Manus  Perkins  was 
station  agent  at  Weirs  before  he 
went  into  the  train  service.  Then 
there  was  Carroll  Rinehart,  just 
starting  in  his  railroad  career. 
Rinehart  began  on  the  B.,  C.  &  M., 
did  his  work  well  and  worked  up  to 
trainmaster.  He  died  in  the  prime 
of  life  from  appendicitis.  Henry 
Hurlbert  was  a  bridge  carpenter  and 
known  to  all  the  old  boys.  Bill  Cas¬ 
well  was  car  tracer  fifty  years  ago; 
then  there  was  Arthur  Carr  (yet 
working) ;  James  Gale,  section  fore¬ 
man  at  Warren,  where  he  has  been 


looking  after  the  right  of  way  for 
forty-five  years.  An  old  engineer 
was  Frank  Stevens,  who  was  killed 
in  a  wreck  at  Dickey  Cut,  Plymouth, 
after  the  road  passed  into  the  C.  & 
M.,  hands.  A1  Lake  was  another 
good  man,  who  nobly  did  his  part  in 
the  days  of  early  railroading.  He 
was  scalded  by  a  safety  plug  blow¬ 
ing  out  of  the  boiler  near  The  Weirs 
during  the  winter  of  1918. 


The  annual  report  of  1856  shows 
that  the  road  paid  for  repairing  old 
wornout  rails  at  the  rate  of  2  y2 
cents  an  inch.  John  Spaulding  was 
a  freight  conductor  thirty-five  years 
ago.  Later  he  left  -the  road  and  en¬ 
gaged  in  farming  at  Whitefield.  He 
also  owned  a  -small  steam  boat  on 
Burns’  pond  near  his  farm  which 
brought  him  in  a  revenue  carrying 
pleasure  parties  during  the  summer. 
Then  there  was  Gib  Dow,  son  of 
Benjamin  Dow,  the  cattle  driver. 
Ed  Pickering,  Ed  Boiler,  Caleb  Bur¬ 
leigh,  Ed  Dewing;  John  Aldrich  who 
was  killed  on  Warren  Summit  thirty- 
five  years  ago;  Will  Grant,  Chester 
Carpenter,  A1  Burnham,  Sylvester 
Swett,  who  sawed  wood  for  years 
with  a  portable  steam  sawing  rig; 
he  had  a  son,  Andrew,  who  is  a 
present  day  freight  conductor. 
There  was  Lewis  Grant  and  Charles 
Corey,  fellows  connected  with  -the 
o-ld  road  forty  years  ago,  each  of 
whom'  did  their  work  well.  Herb 
and  Scott  Wells  who  were  raised  at 
Center  Haverhill,  sons  of  the  late 
Caleb  Wells;  these  boys  were  good 
railroad  men  and  seldom  received 
criticism  from  the  “higherups”. 
Then  there  were  some  of  the  section 
men  worthy  of  mention  such  as  Ed 
Glynn,  Will  Welch,  Bill  Caswell, 
Proctor  Harris,  Harvey  Caswell, 
Will  Sturtevant.  Myron  Browley 
started  railroading  in  early  days  on 
the  -old  road,  later  he  went  into  the 
employ  of  Raymond  &  Whitcomb  as 
personal  conductor,  and  has  made 


many  trips  across  the  continent  in 
charge  of  excursion  parties.  He 
proves  the  right  man  in  the  right 
place  and  is  held  in  high  esteem  by 
his  employers  as  well  as  those  com¬ 
prising  his  many  personally  con¬ 
ducted  parties.  A  strange  coinci¬ 
dence  was  when  a  local  tax  collec¬ 
tor  attached  a  locomotive  at  Warren 
station  for  taxes.  Fifty  years  ago 
the  railroad  tax  yas  paid  to  the  col¬ 
lector  in  each  town  the  same  as  an 
individual  tax  today.  This  particu¬ 
lar  year  the  road  had  failed  to  pay 
its  taxes  and  an  attachment  was  lev¬ 
ied  on  an  engine  attached  to  a  train 
going  through.  The  train  was  held 
up  until  arrangements  could  be 
made  with  Arthur  Knapp  to  go  as 
receiver  for  the  road. 


Old  time  freight  conductors  who 
have  not  been  mentioned  were  Bert 
Colby,  Jess  and  George  Peebles, 
each  of  whom  saw  service  in  the 
days  when  railroading  was  carried 
on  vastly  different  from  today. 
Then  there  were  William  French, 
station  agent  for  so  many  years  at 
Norlhfield;  Orren  Berdean,  now 
eighty-five  years  olid  and  passing  his 
declining  years  at  Laconia;  Harley 
Whiting,  Ed  Buckley  and  so  many 
others  whose  names  have  gone  from 
memory  but  whose  influence  yet  re¬ 
mains. 


Mr.  Cummings,  like  many  other 
old  time  railroad  men  never  tires 
telling  of  early  days  of  the  old  road, 
and  recently  wrote  as  follows : 

Friend  Caswell: 

Your  articles  on  the  old  B.,  C.  & 
M.,  are  fine  and  will  prove  interest¬ 
ing  and  instructive  to  all  readers. 
Has  any  one  mentioned  “Peter” 
Hines,  whose  correct  name  was  Or- 
rin?  He  was  a  son  of  Peter  Hines, 
one  of  the  old  stage  drivers.  Young 
Peter,  as  he  was  always  called,  was 
a  passenger  conductor.  About  1870 
he  run  the  train  known  as  the  “Shoo 


Fly”,  a  one-car  train  with  the  Moun¬ 
tain  Maid  for  a  locomotive  and  I 
broke  for  him  in  1871,  leaving  Ply¬ 
mouth  for  Concord  about  5  a.  m.,  and 
getting  back  to  Plymouth  about  11 
p.  m.  This  was  before  the  Montreal 
Air  Line  trains  were  put  on.  In  the 
winter  of  1871  Peter  run  the  branch 
train  between  Wing  Road  and  what 
is  now  Bethlehem  Junction.  I  was 
there  with  him.  Sam  Cawley  was 
engineer.  Peter  soon  after  left  the 
B.,  C.  &  M.,  and  went  to  wtork  for 
the  N.  Y.,  N.  H.  &  H.,  and  died  down 
there  some  years  ago.  You  gave 
Mr.  Dodge’s  age  as  75.  As  I  rec¬ 
ollect  it  on  the  plate  on  his  coffin  it 
read,  “Born  May  1,  1818;  died  Aug. 
10,  1883”. 

Yours  truly, 

G.  E.  CUMMINGS. 
Woodsville,  N.  H. 


During  the  year  1882,  thirty- 
seven  years  ago,  the  road  was  hard 
hit  and  unfortunate  as  to  wrecks. 
In  the  early  spring  of  that  year  oc¬ 
curred  a  freight  wreck  at  North 
Haverhilll,  an  account  of  which  is 
given  elsewhere.  May  8,  another  of 
the  stock  train  and  mail  train  be¬ 
tween  Ashland  and  Meredith;  and  in 
the  fall  of  that  same  year  a  passen¬ 
ger  train  wreck  in  “Dark  Hollow”, 
half  a  mile  below  the  present  rail¬ 
road  yard  at  Woodsville.  I  recently 
came  across  a  newspaper  account  of 
the  stock  train  wreck  of  May  8,  1882, 
which  in  part  follows: 

“The  afternoon  mail  train  north 
left  Concord,  at  3:10  in  charge  of 
Conductor  Thomas  Robie.  The 
train  consisted  of  a  combination 
baggage,  express  and  mail  car,  and 
two  passenger  cars,  drawn  by*  the 
locomotive  “Plymouth”,  George  Pee¬ 
bles,  engineer,  and  Fred  Sargent, 
fireman.  The  train  proceeded  to 
Tilton,  where  Conductor  Robie  re¬ 
ceived  orders  from  the  train  dis¬ 
patcher  at  Plymouth  to  meet  the 
down  cattle  train,  in  charge  of  Hen- 


78 

ry  Mann,  conductor,  and  consisting 
of  twenty-four  cars  drawn  by  the  lo¬ 
comotive  “Frnconia”,  John  Quimby 
engineer,  and  Burt  Dodge,  fireman, 
at  Meredith  Village.  His  train  pro¬ 
ceeded  to  Meredith,  and  was  run  up¬ 
on  the  side  track  to  await  the  pass¬ 
ing  of  the  cattle  train.  After  re¬ 
maining  on  the  side  track  about  ten 
minutes,  Conductor  Robie  received 
orders  from  the  train  dispatcher  at 
Plymouth  to  meet  the  cattle  train 
and  No.  14  passenger  train  (which 
was  the  evening  express  train)  at 
Plymouth,  and  thereupon  his  train 
was  run  upon  the  main  track,  and 
proceeded  in  accordance  with  in¬ 
structions.  The  train  made  a  stop 
at  Fogg’s  Station,  and  proceeding, 
had  reached  a  point  about  four  and 
one-half  miles  above  Meredith  Vil¬ 
lage,  and  three  and  one-half  miles 
below  Ashland,  when  the  cattle  train 
was  seen  some  forty  or  fifty  rods 
away  coming  on  a  down  grade. 

“A  sudden  application  of  the  air 
brakes  was  made,  and  the  engineers, 
firemen,  expressman  Van  Corser, 
brakeman  Fred  Jones,  and  mail 
agent  Charles  Wright,  all  jumped, 
the  speed  of  the  mail  train  being 
somewhat  slackened.  In  an  instant 
the  two  locomotives  crashed  into 
each  other,  and  fell  on  the  west  side 
of  the  track,  the  boiler  of  the  ‘Fran¬ 
conia’  being  turned  nearly  three- 
fourths  of  the  way  around  to  the 
north,  and  the  boiler  of  the  ‘Ply¬ 
mouth’  partly  around  to  the  south. 
The  two  tenders  were  thrown  the 
east  side  of  the  track  and  piled  one 
upon  the  other.  The  baggage,  ex¬ 
press  and  mail  car  was  broken  al¬ 
most  into  kindling  wood,  and  three 
or  four  cattle  cars  were  thrown  off 
the  track  on  the  opposite  side  from 
the  locomotives. 

“The  crash  came  so  suddenly,  that 
Conductor  Robie,  who  was  sitting  in 
the  first  passenger  car,  and  had 
hardly  got  upon  his  feet,  after  the 
application  of  the  air  brakes,  was 


forced  some  distance  down  the  aisle, 
but  none  of  the  passengers  in  the 
two  passenger  cars  were  injured. 
It  was  soon  ascertained  that  William 
H.  Abel,  a  hosiery  machine  manu¬ 
facturer  of  Laconia,  but  who  lived  in 
Bridgewater,  about  two  miles  from 
Ashland,  and  who  was  sitting  in  a 
chair  in  the  baggage  car,  was  killed, 
he  being  found  wedged  inside  the 
baggage  car,  covered  with  debris, 
and  his  face  had  the  appearance  of 
suffocation. 

“Hiram  Jones,  of  Barre,  Vt.,  who 
was  on  board  the  cattle  train  with 
some  horses,  was  found  buried  un¬ 
der  the  bottom  tender,  only  one 
hand  and  part  of  an  arm  being  vis¬ 
ible,  and  he  was  probably  instantly 
killed.  Engineer  Peebles  received  a 
blow  on  his  head,  when  he  jumped, 
and  was  considerably  stunned,  but 
is  not  thought  to  be  seriously  in¬ 
jured.  Brakeman  Jones  was  lamed 
somewhat,  and  also  Conductor  Ro¬ 
bie,  but  both  were  on  duty  this 
morning,  as  was  also  Mail  Agent 
Wright,  Expressman  Corser  and 
Willie  Gilman,  peddler  boy,  who  es¬ 
caped  without  injury.  It  was  a  nar¬ 
row  escape  for  all  the  train  men  on 
both  trains.  Seven  or  eight  horses 
were  killed  outright”. 


The  first  passenger  cars  with  the 
monitor  top,  were  built  for  the  old 
road  at  Laconia  in  1868;  there  were 
two  combination  cars  and  two  coach¬ 
es.  These  were  followed  by  two 
more  coaches  the  next  summer  with 
what  were  known  as  “French  Tops”. 
I  am  told  that  for  a  long  time  these 
good  cars  were  all  taken  off  in  the 
fall,  and  only  flat  roof  cars  were  run 
through  the  winter.  These  passen¬ 
ger  cars,  like  the  freight  cars  were 
hitched  up  with  pin  and  link,  as 
that  was  before  the  days  of  air 
brakes.  Back  in  the  60s  there  were 
bell  cords  which  were  used  only  in 
case  of  emergency.  There  was  a 


79 


signal  of  some  sort  that  used  to 
slide  out  on  the  end  of  the  car  for 
the  engineer  to  stop  at  flag  stations, 
instead  of  pulling  the  bell  cord. 
The  first  Miller  hooks  were  put  on 
early  in  the  70s,  about  ’73  or  ’74,  and 
this  followed  several  years  later  by 
the  air  brake  with  which  one  of  the 
passenger  engines  were  first  equip¬ 
ped  as  an  experiment,  and  later  all 
the  passenger  machines  were  equip¬ 
ped  with  air.  Most  of  the  box  cars 
had  hand  brakes  but  there  were  no 
brakes  on  the  flat  cars  of  the  earliest 
designs.  Most  of  the  box  cars  were 
28  feet,  arid  had  a  capacity  of  20,000 
pounds.  The  caboose  had  space  in 
each  end  for  freight,  and  the  con¬ 
ductor’s  room  in  the  center.  The 
conductor’s  room  was  so  small  that 
a  person  could  sit  on  the  seat  and 
put  his  feet  on  the  small  box  stove. 
On  each  end  on  top  of  the  caboose 
there  was  a  recess  cut  into  top  of 
the  car,  and  a  hood  to  pull  over  it, 
so  that  in  stormy  weather  when  the 
brakeman  rode  on  top  of  the  caboose 
he  could  sit  down  in  this  seat  and 
pull  the  hood  over  him  and  be  pro¬ 
tected  from  the  wind  and  storm. 
There  was  no  accommodation  for 
sleeping  in  the  caboose.  Can  you 
imagine  what  a  freight  crew  of  the 
present  day  would  say  if  started  out 
with  the  equipment  given  the  men 
of  those  old  days  and  which  was  per¬ 
fectly  satisfactory. 


The  oil  used  on  the  trains  for 
everything  except  the  engine  valves 
was  pure  lard  oil.  In  the  winter  it 
had  to  be  taken  out  of  the  barrels 
and  melted  in  kettles  over  a  fire. 
For  valves  tallow  was  used. 


In  the  early  70s  there  were  kept 
at  Woodsville  three  engines  over 
night.  The  mail  train  engine,  the 
way  freight  engine  and  the  helper. 
When  the  helper  was  not  “over  the 
hill”  it  was  used  about  the  yard  as  a 
shifter.  Up  to  1882  trains  were  sel¬ 


dom  moved  by  telegraphic  orders. 
Some  attempts  at  train  dispatching 
were  made  but  in  rather  a  loose 
way.  In  1882  Mr.  Stowell  assumed 
charge  of  the  train  service;  opened 
a  dispatcher’s  office  at  Plymouth, 
and  George  Randall  was  taken  from 
the  Central  Vermont  road  and  made 
chief  dispatcher. 


The  road  was  opened  to  Lancaster 
July  4,  1871,  and  regular  trains  were 
put  on  from  that  day.  A  run  in 
those  days  was  Lancaster  to  Boston 
and  return.  A  three-car  train  was 
made  up  with  a  conductor  and  one 
man  who  acted  as  brakeman  and 
baggage  man,  making  all  the  stops 
by  hand  to  Plymouth.  Here  another 
car  and  brakeman  would  usually  be 
taken  on.  From  Plymouth  the  re¬ 
mainder  of  the  run  was  somewhat 
easier.  On  arriving  at  Boston  the 
train  had  to  be  “shifted”  the  cars 
swept,  kindling  gotten  for  the  wood 
stoves  ready  for  the  start  the  next 
morning  which  was  made  quite 
early.  The  return  trip  was  made  in 
about  the  same  way  as  the  down 
trip  the  day  before.  The  train  crew 
of  course  had  to  help  wood  up  at  in¬ 
tervals  and  always  keep  the  fires  go¬ 
ing  and  cars  warm  as  possible.  It 
was  the  usual  custom  for  the  con¬ 
ductor,  when  a  passenger  train 
stopped  to  wood  up,  to  have  all  those 
riding  on  free  passes  go  out  and 
help.  By  this  method  often  times  it 
was  made  a  “short  job”  of.  The 
company,  to  be  economical,  used  to 
burn  Old  ties,  and  every  fall  the  ties 
were  picked  up  and  put  into  piles 
along  the  track  where  they  got  some 
one  to  saw  them  up;  then  trains 
would  stop  wherever  there  were 
piles  of  ties  and  wood  up.  After¬ 
wards  they  built  three  tie  sheds : 
one  at  Bridgewater,  one  at  Woods¬ 
ville  and  one  at  Wing  Road.  As  is 
mentioned  elsewhere,  Mr.  Obediah  G. 
Smith  of  Plymouth  was  contracted 
with  to  saw  the  old  ties  at  so  much 


80 


a  cord.  Soon  as  the  summer  trains 
were  off  they  would  start  out  a  train 
with  ten  or  a  dozen  flat  cars  and 
twenty-five  or  thirty  men,  with 
hoarding  cars,  and  fill  up  these 
sheds,  which  usually  took  until  snow 
flew.  The  crew  would  stop  where- 
ever  night  overtook  them.  Smith 
would  put  his  sawing  machine  into 
the  shed  and  saw  up  the  ties  during 
the  winter.  Smith  was  supposed  to 
saw  them  sixteen  inches  long,  hut 
they  say  from  the  time  he  cut  them 
until  they  were  put  into  the  fire  box 
they  generally  grew  up  to  be  any¬ 
where  from  24  to  30  inches  long.  A 
larger  part  of  these  ties  in  the 
handling  would  fall  to  pieces,  and 
every  fall  before  the  sheds  were 
filled  they  would  shovel  out  a  hun¬ 
dred  carlloadsitof  chips  iand|  rotten  rub¬ 
bish.  At  a  director’s  meeting  one 
time  the  matter  of  using  old  ties  for 
fuel  was  brought  up.  Some  thought 
it  was  not  economical,  but  the  man¬ 
agement  thought  it  best  to  keep  on 
using  them.  One  of  the  directors 
expressed  his  opinion  that,  although 
the  ties  would  probably  make  just 
as  much  steam  as  good  hard  wood, 
the  steam  was  undoubtedly  of  poor¬ 
er  quality.  They  'later  became 
somewhat  enlightened,  and  the 
business  of  picking  up  old  ties  was 
abandoned  and  they  bought  hard 
wood  instead.  They  seemed  to 
have  an  idea  that  cord  wood  was  not 
worth  anything  until  it  had  laid  be¬ 
side  the  track  for  three  or  four 
years. 


Soon  after  the  road  was  built  to 
Sanbornton  Bridge  and  trains  began 
to  run  regularly  between  there  and 
Concord,  one  day  Rev.  John  Cham¬ 
berlain  was  at  the  Northfield  sta¬ 
tion  and  saw  a  passenger  train  com¬ 
ing;  he  went  into  the  depot  and 
wrote  these  lines.  Later  music  was 
written  to  them  and  for  many  years 
the  hymn  was  sung  at  religious 
gatherings  all  over  New  England. 


The  verses  were  entitled  “The  Gos¬ 
pel  Train”  and  were  as  follows: 

The  Gospel  train  is  coming, 

I  hear  it  just  ait  hand, 

I  hear  the  car  wheels  moving, 

And  rumbling  through  the  land; 

I  hear  the  bell  and  whistle, 

They’re  coming  ’round  the  curve, 

She’s  playing  all  her  steam  and  power, 
And  straining  every  nerve. 

O  see  the  Gospel  engine, 

She’s  heaving  now  in  sight; 

Her  steam  valves  they  are  groaning, 

The  pressure  is  so  great; 

No  signal  for  another  train 
To  follow  on  the  line, 

O  sinner,  you’re  forever  lost, 

If  once  you’re  left  behind. 

O  see  the  engine  banner, 

She’s  fluttering  in  the  breeze, 

She’s  spangled  in  the  Saviour’s  blood. 

But  still  she  floats  with  ease. 

This  is  the  gospel  banner, 

The  motto’s  new  and  old; 

Salvation  and  repentance 
Are  burnished  there  in  gold. 

She’s  nearing  now  the  station, 

O  sinner,  don’t  be  vain. 

But  come  and  get  your  ticket, 

And  be  ready  for  the  train. 

The  fare  is  cheap  and  all  can  go, 

The  rich,  the  poor  are  there; 

No  second  class  on  board  the  train, 

No  difference  in  the  fare. 

I  think  she’ll  make  a  little  halt 
To  wood  up  on  the  line, 

And  give  you  all  a  chance  to  go. 

But  yet  she’ll  make  her  time. 

She’s  coming  round  the  mountain, 

By  the  rivers  and  the  lake; 

The  Saviour,  he’s  on  board  the  train 
Controlling  steam  and  brake. 

We  soon  shall  reach  the  station, 

O  how  we  then  shall  sing, 

With  all  the  heavenly  army, 

We’ll  make  the  welkin  ring. 

We’ll  shout  o’er  all  oxir  sorrows. 

And  sing  forevermore 
With  Christ  and  all  his  army, 

On  that  celestial  shore. 


Early  in  this  article  mention  is 
made  of  a  steamboat  being  built  to 
run  on  Lake  Winnipiseogee,  and  how 
the  Boston,  Concord  &  Montreal  road 
helped  finance  the  building  of  the 
boat  that  the  road’s  revenue  might  be 
increased  by  passenger  traffic.  The 
boat  was  built  and  did  service  for 


81 

forty-five  years.  April  20,  1894, 

there  was  published  in  Warren  News 
an  account  of  the  old  boat  finding 
her  last  mooring  and  she  now  sleeps 
in  a  watery  grave  beneath  the  waves 
over  which  she  sailed  for  nearly  half 
a  century. 

The  steamer  Lady  of  the  Lake, 
which  for  many  years  has  run  on 
Lake  Winnipiseogee,  is  to  go  out  of 
commission.  As  soon  as  the  ice  is 
out  of  the  lake  she  is  to  be  towed  to 
Lakeport,  and  near  the  very  spot 
where,  forty-five  years  ago,  the  hull 
was  laid  and  the  steamer  built,  she 
is  to  find  her  last  mooring.  The 
Winnipiseogee  Steamboat  Company 
was  organized  in  that  year,  their 
charter  dating  June  24,  1848.  At  a 
meeting  held  Oct.  25,  1848,  Mr. 

Walker  presented  a  model  for  a  boat 
which  was  adopted.  The  boat  was 
121  feet  long,  with  21  feet  beam. 
William  Walker,  Jr.,  and  B.  J.  Cole 
were  authorized  to  build  it,  the  lum¬ 
ber  used  in  the  construction  of  the 
steamer  being  cut  around  the  lake. 
The  building  of  the  boat  began  in 
January  1849,  and  was  finished  in 
time  to  hold  the  meeting  on  board 
July  20,  of  that  year;  William  Walk¬ 
er,  Jr.,  of  Concord,  was  the  first 
captain.  Elezur  Bickford  was  the 
pilot,  and  succeeded  Walker  as  cap¬ 
tain  after  the  latter  had  served  some 
ten  or  fifteen  years.  Then  followed 
Winborn  A.  Sanborn,  James  Beede  of 
Meredith,  S.  B.  Cole,  Captain  San¬ 
born  again,  and  John  S.  Wadleigh. 
The  Lady  ran  some  twenty  years, 
when  a  new  hull  was  built  at  Mere¬ 
dith.  Later  on,  while  lying  at  her 
wharf  at  Wolfboro  one  night,  her 
hull  was  burned  to  the  water's  edge. 
At  one  time,  while  carrying  a  moon¬ 
light  excursion,  the  Lady  ran  on  to 
a  rock  near  Witch  Island,  and  was 
run  to  Davis  Island  and  beached. 
The  loss  of  the  season’s  business  and 
repairs  rendered  necessary  by  the 
accident,  cost  $10,000.  No  fatal  ac¬ 
cident  or  drowning  of  any  person 


ever  occurred  in  connection  with  the 
steamer. 


Charles  F.  Carr,  railroad  bridge 
carpenter  in  the  employ  of  the  old 
road  during  last  of  its  history  was 
well  known  to  all  employees.  He 
was  a  highly  respected  resident  of 
Woodsville. 


Here  is  probably  the  first  time  ta¬ 
ble  issued  by  the  old  road.  It  was 
published  as  a  paid  advertisement  in 
the  New  Hampshire  Statesman,  at 
Concord,  May  19,  1848. 


BOSTON,  CONCORD  &  MONTREAL. 
Railroad.  Opened  to  Sandbornton. 
On  and  after  Monday,  May  22,  1848, 
the  passenger  trains,  in  connection 
with  the  Lowell,  Nashua  and  Con¬ 
cord  railroads,  will  run  as  follows, 
viz:  leave  Boston  for  Sandbornton 
at  7*4  a.  m.,  and  12  M.;  leave  Sand¬ 
bornton  for  Boston  at  9  a.  m„  and  3 
p.  m.;  leave  Concord  for  Sandborn¬ 
ton  at  10  a.  m.,  and  4*4  P-  m.,  or  on 
the  arrival  of  the  cars  from  Boston. 


JAMES  N.  ELKINS,  Agent. 
May  19,  1848. 


Nathan  S.  Knight  was  among  the 
later  B.,  C.  &  M.,  men.  He  was  born 
in  Jefferson  in  1849,  worked  for  the 
Brown’s  Lumber  Company  at  White- 
field  eight  years  and  then  went  to 
the  B.  C.,  &  M.  He  started  braking 
for  two  years,  then  was  baggage 
master  and  later  way  freight  con¬ 
ductor,  and  then  passenger  conduc¬ 
tor.  In  1890  he  was  injured  at 
Northumberland  by  being  caught  be¬ 
tween  the  saloon  car  of  his  train  and 
a  cattle-guard,  from  which  he  never 
fully  recovered. 


82 


Melvin  J.  Mann,  passenger  conduc¬ 
tor  between  Concord  and  Woods¬ 
ville  has  for  the  last  thirty-six  years 
been  in  this  capacity  and  his  name 
is  familiar  to  the  traveling  public. 
There  is  not  a  more  cordial  conduc¬ 
tor  on  the  whole  system  than  he. 
Melvin  Mann  was  born  in  Benton 
sixty-three  years  ago,  where  he 
lived  until  he  was  one  and  twenty. 
He  worked  on  his  father’s  farm  and 
attended  school.  For  six  years  be¬ 
fore  he  became  of  age  he  carried  the 
United  States  mail  between  Benton 
and  North  Haverhill.  At  the  age  of 
21  he  became  brakeman  on  the  old 
B.,  C.  &  M.,  working  at  that  on 
freights  for  three  years,  when  he 
was  -  made  conductor.  For  three 
years  more  he  had  charge  of  the 
freight  train,  when  he  was  trans¬ 
ferred  to  a  passenger  run  in  1883,  in 
which  capacity  he  is  still  serving. 


George  F.  Smith  was  a  B.,  C.  &  M. 
man.  He  started  railroading  in  1872 
as  brakeman,  two  years  later  was 
made  baggage  man,  which  he  fol¬ 
lowed  for  eight  years,  when  he  was 
promoted  to  passenger  conductor  in 
which  capacity  he  continued  for 
about  twenty  years,  making  Woods- 
ville  his  home. 


Probably  it  is  not  generally  known 
today  that  J.  N.  Elkins,  the  second 
superintendent  of  the  old  road  was  a 
conductor  on  the  Concord  Railroad 
before  coming  to  the  B.,  C.  &  M. 
The  name  James  N.  Elkins  is  famil¬ 
iar  to  many  of  the  older  generation 
of  railroad  men,  for  it  will  be  re¬ 
membered  that  an  inside  connected 
locomotive  of  early  days  bore  this 
name  and  her  number  was  9.  The 
name  was  on  a  large  brass  plate  on 
each  side  of  the  boiler,  and  later  was 
painted  under  the  cab  windows. 
This  engine  was  for  a  long  time  run 
by  that  faithful  employee,  Alfred 
Drake,  better  known  among  his  as¬ 
sociates  as  “Bogy”.  Later  George 


Hutchins,  his  fireman,  run  the  Elk¬ 
ins  on  the  AVhite  Mountain  express. 
Mr.  Hutchins’  name  has  appeared  in 
previous  letters,  and  certainly  he  is 
a  pioneer  in  the  care  and  running  of 
an  engine  in  the  mountain  region. 
Mr.  Elkins,  upon  his  retirement,  was 
succeeded  by  James  M.  Whiton,  both 
of  whom  had,  according  to  records, 
many  sterling  qualities  worthy  of 
emulation. 


The  first  superintendent  was  Peter 
Clark,  who  was  later  succeeded  by 
Mr.  Elkins.  There  was  one  of  the 
first  locomotives  bearing  the  name 
Peter  Clark,  a  picture  of  the  old  ma¬ 
chine  appearing  elsewdiere.  John 
Lyon  started  out  as  a  stable  boy, 
caring  for  the  stage  horses  at  Mere¬ 
dith  Village,  and  from  that  he  went 
to  work  for  Jim  Beede  at  the  rail¬ 
road  station.  He  had  great  confi¬ 
dence  in  the  B.,  C.  &  M.,  and  put 
time  and  money  into  the  old  road, 
but  later  learned  more  about  starch 
and  dry  goods  than  he  did  railroad¬ 
ing. 


George  Stevens  was  succeeded  by 
P.alph  Adams  as  master  mechanic 
about  1870.  Stevens  went  west 
where  he  died  a  few  years  after. 
Henry  Little,  the  veteran  engineer 
as  old  age  overtook  him,  was  given 
a  flagging  job  at  Ferry  street  cross¬ 
ing,  Concord.  John  Davis,  another 
old  and  faithful  engineer  retired  and 
died  at  Woodsville  about  eighteen 
years  ago. 


Although  these  dates  have  been 
covered  in  a  general  way  earlier  in 
this  article,  yet  for  convenience  the 
following  are  briefly  given  with  ref¬ 
erence  to  the  Mountain  road.  This 
road  was  opened  from  Woodsville  to 
Littleton  in  1853  by  the  White  Moun¬ 
tain  Railroad  Company.  Here  funds 
run  out  and  there  were  heavy  debts. 
Later  the  road  came  into  the  hands 
of  the  Boston,  Concord  &  Montreal, 


83 

and  in  1869  was  opened  to  Wing 
Road.  The  following  summer  the 
road  was  opened  to  Whitefield, 
which  was  the  terminal  until  Octo¬ 
ber  1870  when  it  went  to  Lancaster 
where  the  first  train  was  run  July  4, 
1871.  The  branch  was  opened  to 
Eethlehem  Junction  in  1872,  to  Faby- 
ans  in  1S74,  and  to  the  Base  of  Mt. 
Washington  in  1876.  I  recollect 
hearing  my  father  tell  of  helping 
build  the  extension  from  Lancaster 
to  Groveton  in  1S73,  connecting  with 
the  Grand  Trunk.  The  Pemigewas- 


moved  to  Woodsville.  Mr.  William 
A.  Stiwell  came  over  from  the  Mont¬ 
pelier  &  Wells  River  road  as  super¬ 
intendent  to  succeed  Mr.  Dodge. 


For  years  the  Peter  Clark  run  be¬ 
tween  Littleton  and  Woodsvilie  with 
the  trusty  left  arm  of  Isaac  Sanborn 
cm  the  throttle.  They  say  the  “Peter” 
did  all  the  work  on  the  mountain 
road  for  years,  coming  down  in  the 
morning  on  the  passenger  train;  go¬ 
ing  back  with  a  freight,  back  down 
to  Woodsville  bringing  freight,  and 


TILTON  FORTY-FIVE  YEARS  AGO. 


set  Valley  road  was  built  in  1883. 


Along  about  1856  the  road  got  into 
financial  difficulties  and  the  directors 
wanted  J.  T.  Coffin  to  take  charge  of 
affairs  which  he  did  at  their  request. 
Mr.  Dodge  took  charge  as  superin¬ 
tendent  in  1858.  He  served  in  this 
capacity  at  Plymouth  until  1883  when 
he  retired  on  account  of  failing 
health.  Socvi  after  Mr.  Dodge’s 
death  the  railroad  headquarters  were 


up  with  the  mail  at  night.  West 
Lyons  for  a  long  time  was  Sanborn’s 
fireman.  Later  Lyons  was  promoted 
and  made  good  as  an  engineer. 
Though  the  “Peter”  was  the  only  en¬ 
gine  on  the  mountain  branch  San¬ 
born  and  Lyon  kept  her  looking  spick 
and  span  as  a  new  dollar.  Ed  Cum¬ 
mings  says  she  run  one  time  more 
than  a  year  without  going  to  the 

shop.  Engineer  Lyon  in  after  years 
went  out  west  and  today  resides  at 


84 


Elkhart,  Ind.  Right  here  I  will  tell 
of  a  circumstance  Mr.  Cummings 
tells  with  reference  to  Ike  Sanborn 
finishing  work  for  the  road  rather 
than  run  one  of  the  light  engines, 
the  Mountain  Maid.  At  the  time 
Cummings  was  a  “wiper”  in  the 
round  house  at  Woodsville,  waiting 
untill  he  got  old  enough  to  go  to 
braking,  a  job  Mr.  Dodge  promised 
him  soon  as  he  was  old  enough.  He 
says:  Along  in  the  fall  of  1869  Mr. 
Dodge  had  an  idea  the  business  was 
slack  and  that  the  Mountain  Maid,  a 
small  engine,  weighing  about  twen¬ 
ty-five  tons,  could  do  the  work  just 
as  well  as  the  “Peter”  and  he  noti¬ 
fied  Ike  that  he  was  going  to  send  up 
the  Mountain  Maid  for  him.  Ike  told 
Mr.  Dodge  that  if  he  sent  her  he 
might  send  a  man  to  run  her.  Mr. 
Dodge  did  not  believe  that  Ike  would 
leave,  but  one  night  John  Davis 
brought  the  Mountain  Maid  up  from 
Lake  Village  with  orders  for  Ike  to 
take  her  the  next  morning,  while  he 
would  take  the  “Peter”  back  to  Lake 
Village.  Davis  was  one  of  those  fel¬ 
lows  who  liked  to  see  a  little  row 
started  up  now  and  then,  and  he 
made  considerable  talk  about  how 
Ike  would  look  running  the  Moun¬ 
tain  Maid.  I  was  watching  at  the 
time  and  he  told  me  a  lot  of  stuff  to 
tell  Ike  about  what  to  do  and  what 
not  to  do  with  her,  and  when  Ike 
came  in  from  Littleton  on  the  mail, 
we  had  the  Mountain  Maid  all  ready 
to  go  back  on  the  freight.  I  com¬ 
menced  to  tell  him  what  Davis  had 
said  about  running  her.  He  told  me 
to  tell  Davis  and  all  the  rest  of  them 

to  go  to  - ,  quite  a  distance  from 

Woodsville.  Ike  picked  up  his  over¬ 
alls  and  frock  and  everything  he  had 
and  got  on  the  train  as  a  passenger 
for  Littleton.  We  telegraphed  Ad¬ 
ams  to  send  a  man  to  run  in  San¬ 
born’s  place,  and  John  Davis  was  the 
man  sent  up.  I  told  John  all  the 
points  of  the  Mountain  Maid  that  he 
told  me  to  tell  Sanborn,  and  a  mad¬ 


der  man  never  left  a  station  on  an 
engine  than  Davis  on  the  Mountain 
Maid.  Ike  was  a  particular  friend 
of  Superintendent  Chamberlin’s,  hav¬ 
ing  known  him  at  Littleton,  and  he 
was  soon  provided  with  a  job  on  the 
Concord  road,  where  he  run  for 
many  years,  was  later  made  round 
house  foreman  at  Concord,  and  died 
in  Concord  in  1886,  thirty-three 
years  ago. 


Sid  Russ,  an  old  time  stage  driver 
and  later  conductor  who  has  been 
mentioned  several  times  elsewhere, 
had  outside  business  enough  so  that 
he  got  rich  and  retired,  and  died  in 
Concord  about  33  years  ago. 


Up  to  about  1872  Uncle  Seth 
Greenleaf  run  as  conductor  of  pas¬ 
senger  trains  more  or  less.  Later 
he  was  ticket  agent  at  one  of  the 
mountain  houses  and  died  about  the 
year  1880.  George  (Little  was  an¬ 
other  B.  C.,  &  M.,  man  who  left  the 
road  and  went  into  the  mail  service. 
He  lived  and  died  at  Plymouth.  Like 
every  possessor  of  the  name  Little, 
he  was  a  good  man.  Then  there  was 
John  Colby,  for  years  section  fore¬ 
man  at  North  Concord;  Uncle  Eben 
Hutchins,  who  I  recollect  in  his  last 
days  of  actual  railroad  work  as  flag¬ 
man  at  a  crossing  at  Laconia.  He 
and  his  good  wife  were  for  years 
regular  attendants  at  the  Alton  Bay 
camp  meetings. 


Many  of  the  older  men  today  will 
remember  T.  P.  Woodman,  an  early 
agent  at  Holderness.  For  years  he 
was  expressman  at  Ashland  and  in 
his  declining  years,  after  he  had  re¬ 
tired  could  not  get  out  of  the  habit 
of  going  to  the  depot.  Henry  Ram¬ 
sey  whose  name  has  not  yet  been 
mentioned;  he  used  to  be  station 
agent  at  Woodsville,  and  later  went 
out  west  where  bte  died.  H.  E. 
Chamberlin  was  the  first  station 
agent  at  Littleton.  Another  man 


who  has  been  u;p  to  this  time  over¬ 
looked  is  Dexter  Hawkins,  who  used 
to  be  a  section  man  at  Bath.  He  la¬ 
ter  became  connected  with  E.  B. 
Mann  &  Co.,  druggists,  Woodsville. 

Mention  has  been  made  of  several 
fatalities  of  early  times.  No  attempt 
is  made  to  record  them  all,  but  there 
was  one  at  Rum  Hill  bridge  many 
years  ago  when  George  Ramsey  was 
killed  by  striking  a  telegraph  pole. 
He  was  freight  conductor  at  the  time 
and  going  on  top  of  his  train  he 
swung  out  too'  far  and  the  pole 
struck  him  in  the  head  and  broke  his 
skull.  E.  P.  Fisher,  who  was  bag¬ 
gage  master  through  to  Boston,  was 
killed  at  Amoskeag  by  being  thrown 
from  the  forward  end  of  his  baggage 
car  underneath  the  wheels.  Only 
until  the  last  thirty  years  were  con¬ 
ductors  or  other  trainmen  uniformed. 
In  the  old  days  the  conductors  or 
brakemen  wore  no  uniform  or  badge 
indicating  who  they  were.  They 
wore  any  clothes  they  saw  fit  and 
any  kind  of  a  hat  or  cap.  Everyone 
along  the  line  was  expected  to  know 
who  the  conductor  was,  and  the  con¬ 
ductor  usually  took  pains  to  have 
everybody  know  who  was  in  charge. 
In  fact  the  old  conductors  did  just 
about  as  they  pleased,  and  did  not 
allow  any  one  to  dictate  to  them 
very  much.  They  ran  the  train  as 
though  they  owned  the  road;  and,  in 
some  cases,  they  did  literally  become 
possessors  of  much  of  it. 


The  passenger  cars  would  haul 
freight  cars  behind  their  trains  to  be 
left  at  points  on  the  main  line  for 
loading.  They  would  wait  at  sta¬ 
tions  for  passengers  to  do  a  little 
business.  Passengers  could  pur¬ 
chase  a  ticket  or  pay  on  the  oars 
just  as  they  chose.  There  was  no 
bothering  with  rebate  slips.  There 
were  no  train  orders.  The  train  first 
arriving  would  wait  for  the  other, 
except  in  cases  where  they  were 
specified  in  the  time  table  to  wait 


five,  ten  or  fifteen  minutes  and  then 
proceed.  The  first  regular  conduc¬ 
tor  on  the  B.,  C.  &  M.,  road  was  Ja¬ 
cob  Libbey,  who  graduated  from  a 
coach  in  stage  times  to  run  as  a 
railroad  conductor,  without  previous 
exerienee  to  any  extent.  After  him 
came  Sid  Russ,  Seth  Greenleaf.  La¬ 
ter  there  was  Tom  Robie,  who  run 
the  train  for  years  known  as  Robie’s 
train.  This  train  at  the  present  day 
is  known  as  the  paper  train.  Later 
George  Eastman  took  the  train  and 
the  public  knew  it  as  Eastman’s 
train.  In  the  early  times  Patch 
Clifford  was  engineer  along  with 
Tom  Robie,  and  the  name  of  the 
train  was  about  equally  divided  be¬ 
ing  called  by  some  Patch’s  train  and 
others  Robie’s  train.  Seth  Green- 
leaf  at  one  time  was  worth  consid¬ 
erable  money  but  invested  it  in  a 
gold  mining  scheme  at  Lisbon  and 
lost  it  all.  Tom  Robie  in  later  years 
run  the  trains  between  the  Fabyans 
and  Base  of  Mt.  Washington  sum¬ 
mers  and  looked  after  the  logging 
business  in  the  winter.  He  died  at 
his  home  in  Plymouth  in  1893. 


The  B.,  C.  &  M.,  owned  and  opera¬ 
ted  stage  lines  from  Littleton  to  the 
White  Mountains  and  Plymouth  up 
the  valley  to  the  Profile  and  a  num¬ 
ber  of  their  stage  drivers  later  be¬ 
came  passenger  conductors,  as  I 
have  already  mentioned. 


Several  old  timers  not  yet  men¬ 
tioned  were,  first,  Eddy  Petties,  who 
jumped  from  freight  conductor  to 
passenger  conductor; ;  Ed  Fisher 
and  Bill  Rawlins  who  run  baggage 
cars  between  Boston  and  Plymouth, 
and  later  were  conductors  between 
Plymouth  and  Littleton.  I  can  re¬ 
member  when  my  father  was  fore¬ 
man  of  the  section  between  Warren 
Summit  and  East  Haverhill  back  in 
the  early  7(Ps.  His  section  started 
about  midway  of  the  “cut”  near  top 
of  the  hill  and  extended  to  a  point 


J 


86 

about  a  mile  south  of  East  Haverhill 
station.  For  years  the  section  men 
would  have  to  get  up  at  3  o’clock  in 
the  morning  and  walk  down  over  the 
five  miles  of  road  before  the  way 
freight  which  left  Woodsville  about 
5  in  the  morning.  There  were  three 
men  in  the  section  crew  and  each 
man  took  his  “turn”  over  the  road, 
summer  and  winter,  returning  on  the 
way  freight  usually  about  6  o’clock 
in  the  morning.  My  father  contin¬ 
ued  as  foreman  of  the  section  gang 
for  a  number  of  years  and  was  later 
made  station  agent,  which  position 
he  held  for  more  than  twenty  years. 
About  the  year  1853  there  were  about 
five  trains  passing  over  Wells  River 
bridge  daily,  and  Mr.  Dodge  got  a  no¬ 
tion  that  it  would  be  well  for  some¬ 
one  to  go  over  the  bridge  after  each 
train,  to  look  for  fire,  and  the  road 
paid  Ed  Cummings  $8  for  doing  this 
one  summer.  Later  this  same  lad 
became  superintendent  of  the  road. 
His  father  was  section  foremtn  of 
the  North  Haverhill  section  of  the 
road  that  summer. 


Without  the  mention  of  the  name 
of  Frank  Titus  this  little  history 
would  be  like  the  play  of  Hamlet, 
with  Hamlet  left  out.  Frank  Titus 
is  a  resent  day  passenger  conductor 
who  started  railroading  along  tow¬ 
ards  the  last  of  the  old  B.,  C.  &  M. 
days.  Like  most  of  the  boys  he  put 
in  his  usual  number  of  years  in  the 
freight  service,  a  baggage  car  and  so 
up  the  line,  and  for  years  has  been 
in  charge  of  one  of  the  through 
trains  between  Newport  and  Boston. 
He  has  grown  gray  in  the  service 
and  is  an  efficient  employee.  He  got 
his  start  with  the  old  road. 


At  the  depots  along  the  road  the 
first  platforms  were  built  about  on 
a  level  with  the  bottom  of  the  bag¬ 
gage  car  doors  and  proved  more  or 
less  dangerous  owing  to  people  fal¬ 
ling  between  the  trains  and  plat¬ 


form.  In  the  early  ’80’s  the  legisla¬ 
ture  passed  a  resolution  that  all 
passenger  station  platforms  in  New 
Hampshire  should  be  lowered  ap¬ 
proximately  to  a  level  with  the 
ground  within  a  certain  period  of 
months.  The  old  “bunter”  or 
“bumpers”  on  all  freight  cars  were 
done  away  with  by  an  act  of  the 
United  States  congress;  likewise  all 
cars  had  to  be  equipped  with  air 
brakes;  the  side  ladders  on  saloon 
cars  were  eliminated  in  a  like  man¬ 
ner  as  time  went  on. 


On  page  59  appears  the  names  of 
the  superintendents  of  the  road  and 
I  regret  the  omission  of  the  name  of 
William  A.  Stowell  from  the  list. 
Mr.  Stowell  came  to  the  old  road 
from  the  M.  &  W.  R.  R.  R.,  in  1882, 
and  brought  with  him  George  E. 
Randall,  who  had  been  train  dis¬ 
patcher  on  the  C.  V.  R.  R.,  who  was 
made  train  dispatcher.  Mr.  Dodge 
went  to  California  in  1883  for  his 
health  and  Mr.  Stowell  became  su¬ 
perintendent  between  Concord  and 
Woodsville,  and  Mr.  Corning  super¬ 
intendent  north  of  Woodsville. 
When  the  B.  &  L.,  took  over  the  road 
Mr.  Corning  retired  and  Mr.  Stowell 
was  made  superintendent  of  the  en¬ 
tire  time  to  the  interests  of  the  M.  & 
W.  R.  R.  R.,  as  general  manager  be¬ 
ing  in  that  position  at  the  time  of 
his  last  illness. 


The  road  was  opened  from  Warren 
to  Wells  River  July  4,  1853  and 
trains  began  running  regularly  the 
next  day.  It  was  just  eighteen  years 
after,  before  the  trains  run  to  Lan¬ 
caster. 


W.  H.  Mathews,  cashier  of  the 
Rockwell  Corporation,  Boston,  who 
are  New  England  distributors  of 
Nash  cars  and  trucks  writes  me  that 
he  saw  service  on  the  old  B.,  C.  &  M. 
He  speaks  of  Capt.  Colby,  the 
Manns,  Mr.  Cummings,  Mr.  Stowell 


87 


and  other  men  of  the  old  road  in  its 
later  days.  Elmer  Gordon  is  an¬ 
other  B.,  C.  &  M.  man  who  later 
went  out  west  and  is  now  running  on 
the  B.  &  M.,  with  headquarters  at 
Lincoln,  Neb.  He  started  braking 
for  Ed  Sanborn. 


During  my  recent  research  for 
ancient  railroad  history  I  have  suc- 
seedod  in  coming  across  seme  good 
matter  with  reference  to  how  the 
Boston,  Concord  &  Montreal  hap¬ 
pened  to  be  built,  the  opposition  it 
encountered,  etc.,  all  of  which  will 
help  to  make  this  history  the  morrs 
valuable  to  say  nothing  of  its  in¬ 
terest.  Had  this  been  available  at 
the  start  it  should  have  gone  in  the 
first  few  pages,  but  even  now  it  will 
not  lose  its  va'ue,  therefore  I  will 
treat  the  subject  briefly.  After  a 
railroad  had  been  built  from  Boston 
to  Concord,  for  some  years  it  was 
thought  it  would  not  be  extended 
further  into  the  country,  and  the 
citizens  at  Concord  were  not  de¬ 
sirous  it  should  be,  and  the  ruling 
political  party  who  had  control  of 
the  state  was  opposed  to  granting 
any  more  charters.  They  took  the 
ground,  as  I  am  told,  that  the  state 
had  no  constitutional  right  to  take 
private  property  to  build  railroads 
without  the  consent  of  the  owners. 
There  was  no  further  action  taken 
for  some  time,  when  one  evening 
Henry  Stevens  of  Barnet,  Vt.,  was 
visiting  at  the  home  of  Dr.  Phineas 
Spaulding  at  Haverhill  Corner, 
which  was  at  that  time  one  of  the 
leading  villages  in  this  section  of  the 
state.  It  was  suggested  by  some  of 
them  that  a  railroad  meeting  be  got¬ 
ten  up  and  held  in  that  village.  The 
suggestion  was  agreed  to,  some 
hand-bills  gotten  Out,  the  public 
from  far  and  near  was  invited  and 
the  meeting  was  fully  attended  by 
prominent  men  from  Canada,  North¬ 
ern  Vermont  and  those  who  were  in¬ 
terested  hereabout,  together  with  a 


great  many  from  all  parts  of  Graf¬ 
ton  county.  The  subject  of  building 
a  railroad  from  Concord  to  Mon¬ 
treal  was  fully  discussed  and  a  com¬ 
mittee  chosen  to  obtain  subscribers 
or  signers  to  a  petition  to  the  legis¬ 
lature  for  a  charter  for  a  road  from 
Concord  to  Wells  River  or  any  point 
where  the  corporation  chose  to  cross 
the  Connecticut  river.  Dr.  Spauld¬ 
ing  of  Haverhill  was  chosen  to  ap¬ 
point  some  efficient  man  in  every 
town  in  Grafton  county  to  obtain  pe¬ 
titioners  to  the  legislature  for  such 
a  grant.  They  say  such  a  formid¬ 
able  array  of  names  availed  the  Gen¬ 
eral  Court  so  that  they  granted  a 
liberal  charter,  an  account  of  which 
appears  in  part  in  the  first  of  this 
article.  The  corporation  next  issued 
subscription  papers  for  the  stock 
and  commenced  the  survey  of  the 
road.  A  meeting  was  held  at  Ply¬ 
mouth  and  largely  attended.  The 
people  from  Canada  and  on  the  line 
of  the  Passumpsic  united  with  the  B., 
C.  &  M.,  instigators  with  assurance 
that  they  would  take  the  road  at  the 
crossing  of  the  Connecticut  river  and 
build  it  to  Montreal,  and  claimed  it 
was  all  one  enterprise.  Apparently 
there  was  perfect  confidence  be¬ 
tween  the  two  corporations.  When 
the  Boston,  Concord  &  Montreal 
charter  was  granted  there  was  an¬ 
other  also  granted  for  a  road  from 
Concord  to  the  mouth  of  White  Riv¬ 
er  to  unite  with  the  Vermont  Cen¬ 
tral.  The  stockholders  of  the  two 
roads  saw  the  advantage  they  would 
derive  by  defeating  the  building  of 
the  B.,  C.  &  M.,  and  induced  the  Pas¬ 
sumpsic  road  to  unite  with  them  at 
White  R'iver  Junction,  and  pledged 
seven  hundred  and  fifty  thousand 
dollars  toward  building  their  road. 
Here  is  where  the  B.,  C.  &  M.,  met 
with  obstacles  and  had  difficult  sled¬ 
ding  almost  at  the  start.  This  bid 
induced  the  Passumpsic  to  leave  the 
B.,  C.  &  M.,  and  unite  their  interests 
with  these  roads,  and  throw  every 


1 


88 

obstacle  in  the  way  of  building  this 
road  possible.  Almost  all  the  in¬ 
fluence  and  a  lot  of  money  was 
against  the  B.,  C.  &  M.,  at  that  time. 

A  bitter  controversy  was  in  the  mean¬ 
time  going  on  between  the  several 
proposed  roads.  An  offer  was  Anally 
made  that  if  the  people  in  this  sec¬ 
tion  of  Grafton  county  would  with¬ 
draw  from  the  proposed  B.,  C.  &  M., 
that  a  junction  might  be  formed  at 
Canaan  and  a  road  go  up  on  the  New 
Hampshire  side  of  the  river  to  Wells 
River  and  there  join  with  the  Pas- 
sumpsic.  They  thought  New  Hamp¬ 
shire  people  and  the  influence  of 
Haverhill,  the  county  seat,  would 
“bite”  because  of  the  possible  gain, 
and  would  join  in  the  proposition. 
This  would  have  brought  the  depot 
at  Haverhill  Corner,  then  the  very 
center  of  the  village,  and  when  the 
Montreal  should  be  built  the  junction 
would  have  been  at  Haverhill  also. 
The  argument  was  further  put  up 
that  if  a  road  to  Montpelier  was  ever 
built  it  would  go  from  Haverhill  to 
Bradford,  Vt.,  up  Wait’s  river, 
thence  on  to  the  Vermont  Capitol. 
Finally  the  B.,  C.  &  M.,  road  was 
built  by  the  issuing  of  bonds  and 
preferred  stock,  the  road  being  mort¬ 
gaged  to  secure  the  payment  of  the 
bonds.  Work  of  building  the  road 
from  Concord  to  Woods ville  was 
started  and  rushed  as  fast  as  was 
possible,  as  is  told  in  the  preceding 
pages  of  this  article. 


I  recently  came  across  some  good 
history  with  reference  to  the  old 
road  back  in  1846,  1848  and  1849. 
Several  of  these  items  appeared  in 
the  Meredith  Bridge  Gazette,  and 
were  reprinted  in  the  New  Hamp¬ 
shire  Statesman  of  Concord  the  fol¬ 
lowing  week.  One  article  deals  with 
breaking  ground  for  the  road,  an¬ 
other  tells  of  the  trial  trip  over  the 
road  from  Concord  to  Sanbornton 
Bridge  (Tilton),  another  gives  re¬ 
ceipts  of  the  road  for  the  month  of 
August  1849,  and  number  of  passen¬ 


gers  carried.  The  last  is  of  a  shock¬ 
ing  accident  which  happened  to  one 
of  the  B.,  C.  &  M.  men  in  Boston,  all 
of  which  will  add  materially  to  the 
interest  of  this  work. 

From  the  New  Hampshire  States¬ 
man  of  February  13,'  1846.  From  the 
Meredith  Bridge  Gazette,  (Meredith 
Bridge  is  now  Laconia). 

The  Railroad — Breaking  Ground. 

On  Thursday  last,  the  occasion  of 
“breaking  ground”  on  the  Boston, 
Concord,  and  Montreal  Railroad  was 
celebrated  in  a  style,  and  with  a 
spirit  highly  satisfactory  to  the 
friends  of  the  enterprise.  In  the 
morning  a  salute  was  fired  at  Sand- 
bornton  Bridge,  Union  Bridge,  Mere¬ 
dith  Bridge  and  Lake  Village.  At  10 
o’clock  a  procession  was  formed  in 
this  village,  in  stages,  sleighs,  etc., 
which  proceeded  to  Union  Brdge,  six 
miles  down  the  river.  There  we 
were  met  by  a  like  procession  from 
Sandbornton  Bridge,  etc.,  and  a 
crowd  of  people,  who  had  assembled 
to  witness  the  ceremonies,  who 
cheered  the  procession  most  heartily 
on  its  arrival.  The  whole  company 
then  formed  in  procession  and 
marched  with  music  to  the  place  ap¬ 
pointed  for  breaking  ground,  on  the 
swell  of  land  upon  the  Gilmanton 
side  of  the  Winnipisogee  river. 
There  Mr.  Lyford,  in  the  absence  of 
the  President  of  the  corporation, 
made  a  short  and  very  pertinent  ad¬ 
dress,  alluding  to  the  magnitude  -  of 
the  undertaking,  its  importance  to 
the  central  and  northern  parts  of 
New  Hampshire,  its  present  pros¬ 
pects  and  some  of  the  results  which 
are  to  be  anticipated  from  its  com¬ 
pletion.  Mr.  Lyford  was  particular¬ 
ly  happy  in  his  remarks;  and  was 
most  enthusiastically  cheered  by  the 
immense  crowd  of  people  assembled. 
When  he  and  Mr.  Clement  threw  out 
the  first  shovel  of  earth,  the  cheering 
was  immense.  Minute  guns  were 
fired  on  the  hill  in  the  vicinity  dur¬ 
ing  the  whole  ceremony.  It  was 


89 


judged  by  many  that  there  were 
three  thousand  people  present.  The 
procession  then  returned  to  the  vil¬ 
lage  at  Union  Bridge,  formed  in  a 
line  and  returned  to  this  village, 
passing  through  cur  principal 
streets;  being  greeted  by  the  firing 
of  cannon,  ringing  of  bells,  and  every 
demonstration  of  joy  that  the  occas¬ 
ion  was  calculated  to  elicit.  As  to 
the  numbers  who  were  present  we 
have  no  means  of  knowing;  but  we 
know  this — there  were  a  great  many 
folks,  “a  mile  of  procession”,  “a 
world  of  people  We  have  no  doubt 
there  were  more  than  3,000  out  on 
the  occasion  at  the  different  points 
although  there  had  been  only  two 
days’  notice. 

After  this  a  “meeting  house  full” 
of  people  assembled  at  the  Univer- 
salist  Church,  in  this  village,  when 
Hon.  Samuel  Tilton  of  Sandbornton, 
was  called  to  the  chair,  and  Mr. 
Ward  of  Plymouth  appointed  Secre¬ 
tary.  (The  Gazette  here  gives  a 
sketch  of  the  addresses  of  Messrs. 
Stevens  of  Meredith  Village;  Low 
and  Robinson  of  this  town;  Lyford  of 
Meredith  and  Clement  of  Sandborn¬ 
ton  and  then  proceeds)  :the  meeting 
was  dissolved  at  about  three  o’clock, 
after  which  about  two  hundred  gen¬ 
tlemen  partook  of  a  most  excellent 
dinner  provided  by  Mr.  Tilton  at  the 
Winnipisiogea  Hall.  After  dinner 
many  sentiments  were  given,  and 
short  addresses  made,  which  were 
most  enthusiastically  responded  to 
by  the  company,  but  which  we  are 
obliged  to  omit.  On  the  whole  it 
was  a  grand  affair,  nothing  occurred 
to  mar  the  pleasures  of  the  day; 
but  every  thing  conspired  to  give 
new  courage  and  fresh  vigor  in  the 
great  undertaking. 


(Note.  The  date  of  this  is  evi¬ 
dently  Thursday,  February  5,  1846). 


From  the  New  Hampshire  States¬ 
man  of  May  12,  1848. 

Boston,  Concord  &  Montreal  R.  R. 

Experimental  Trip. 

An  experimental  trip  over  that 
section  of  the  Boston,  Concord  and 
Montreal  Railroad,  lying  between 
this  town  and  Sandbornton  Bridge, 
(18  miles)  together  with  the  annual 
meeting  of  stockholders  in  the  road, 
took  place  on  Wednesday  last.  A 
train  of  four  cars  left  Concord  in  the 
morning  for  Sandbornton,  and  re¬ 
turned  at  10  o’clock  a.  m.,  laden  with 
a  great  number  of  people  residing 
upon  the  line  of  road  now  in  opera¬ 
tion  and  others  from  towns  beyond 
Sandbornton  and  onward  to  Haver¬ 
hill.  On  the  arrival  of  the  morning 
train  from  Boston,  a  multitude  of 
people  from  below,  together  with  a 
large  body  of  those  residing  in  Con¬ 
cord,  were  accommodated  with  seats 
filling  in  all  ten  spacious  cars,  which 
were  drawn  over  the  road  by  the 
powerful  engine,  “Old  Man  of  the 
Mountain”  and  the  whole  company 
safely  set  down  at  the  flourishing 
village  of  Sandbornton  Bridge  at  12 
o’clock  under  the  roar  of  cannon  and 
the  congratulations  of  a  concourse  of 
people  from  towns  in  Merrimack  and 
Belknap  counties. 

The  long  and  heavily  laden  train 
of  cars  passed  over  the  road  six 
times  in  the  course  of  Wednesday 
with  no  accident  whatever.  They 
were  in  charge  of  Jas.  N.  Elkins,  the 
active  and  gentlemanly  agent  of  the 
road,  and  known  by  multitudes  as 
one  of  the  conductors  on  the  Concord 
road  from  the  commencement  of  its 
operations  in  1842  up  to  his  transfer 
last  winter  to  the  office  he  now  holds 
in  the  B.,  C.  &  B.,  road. 

The  last  train  down  reached  the 
Concord  station  at  1-4  to  8,  evening, 
the  passengers  highly  pleased  with 
the  occurrences  of  the  day. 

(Note.  The  date  of  this  trip  was 
Wednesday,  May  10,  1848). 


90 


From  the  New  Hampshire  States¬ 
man  of  September  28,  1849. 

The  receipts  on  the  Boston,  Con¬ 
cord  and  Montreal  railroad  for  the 
month  of  August  (1849)  alter  de¬ 
ducting  the  proportions  of  the  lower 
roads,  were  $10,273.88.  Number  of 
passengers  passing  over  the  road 
during  the  month,  10,692. 


From  the  New  Hampshire  States¬ 
man  of  January  25,  1850. 

Shocking  Railroad  Accident. 

Last  Saturday  afternoon  in  Bos¬ 
ton,  as  the  freight  train  was  being 
put  in  readiness  to  leave  the  city  for 
this  place  (Concord),  Mr.  Cosmo 
Lund  of  this  town,  an  active  and  en¬ 
ergetic  man  connected  with  the 
freight  train  on  the  Boston,  Con¬ 
cord  &  Montreal  railroad,  as  conduc¬ 
tor  was  caught  between  the  “bunt- 
ers”  of  two  freight  cars,  while  at¬ 
tempting  to  fasten  them  together, 
and  so  pressed  as  to  compress  his 
body  to  the  thickness  only  of  three 
inches,  breaking  four  or  five  of  his 
ribs,  driving  one  or  more  of  them 
probably  through  his  lungs;  yet  he 
returned  home  in  the  evening  pas¬ 
senger  train  of  cars  and  was  able  to 
walk  from  the  carriage  into  his 
house,  but  he  died  on  Monday  after¬ 
noon.  He  was  about  36  years  of  age 
and  leaves  a  widow  and  two  chil¬ 
dren. 


From  the  New  Hampshire  States¬ 
man  of  July  23,  1847. 

(From  the  Meredith  Bridge  Gazette). 

A.  Beaman  of  this  place  has  taken 
the  contract  for  the  grading  of  the 
railroad  from  the  lower  part  of  this 
village  to  Lake  Village  about  two 
miles.  From  Lake  Village  to  Mere¬ 
dith  Village,  the  grading  is  to  be 
done  by  Mr.  Ela  of  Meredith  Village. 
The  work  upon  the  ledge  near  Long 
Pond,  which  was  commenced  some 
ten  days  since,  is  going  on  very  well. 
This  point  only  nine  miles  this  side 
of  Plymouth,  is  the  one  which  has 


been  regarded  by  some  presenting 
the  heaviest  work  of  any  upon  the 
whole  line,  but  it  will  be  much  light¬ 
er  than  was  anticipated.  The  con¬ 
tractors  upon  the  railroad  between 
Sandbornton  Bridge  and  this  place 
are  on  in  strong  force.  Large  num¬ 
bers  of  Irishmen  are  busy  at  work 
at  different  points  upon  the  line  and 
the  work  has  assumed  an  air  of 
briskness  which  looks  encouraging. 
All  these  contracts,  by  their  terms, 
are  to  be  completed  by  the  first  of 
November  next. 


FRANK  W.  JOHNSON 


Frank  W.  Johnson  went,  to  rail¬ 
roading  on  the  old  B.,  C.  &  M.,  when 
he  was  but  thirteen  years  old,  ob¬ 
taining  a  position  in  the  office  at 
Lake  Village.  A  year  later  he  went 
to  braking  and  kept  it  up  for  four 
years.  At  the  age  of  18,  he  took 


91 


charge  of  a  freight  run  as  conduc¬ 
tor.  In  1883  he  was  given  a  passen¬ 
ger  run  which  he  held  for  many 
years,  and  later  was  placed  in 
charge  of  the  Concord  passenger 
station  as  local  agent.  Frank  John¬ 
son’s  social  qualities  were  well  de¬ 
veloped,  and  he  was  very  popular 
among  his  fellow  employees.  To 
the  patrons  of  the  road  he  was  ever 
the  same,  obliging,  whole-souled  and 
genial  in  his  manner. 


Five  years  ago  there  was  printed 
in  Warren  News  a  paragraph  with 
reference  to  Heber  W.  Hull  of  Ply¬ 
mouth  and  a  lantern  which  he  lost 
in  the  Sewell’s  Falls  wreck  and  re¬ 
covered  after  thirty-six  years.  A 
few  days  ago  I  wrote  Mr.  Hull  ask¬ 
ing  that  he  give  me  a  few  facts  with 
reference  to  the  wreck,  how  he  lost 
the  lantern,  etc.  That  same  morn¬ 
ing  Mr.  Hull’s  letter  was  received — 
our  letters  crossed  on  the  way.  Mr. 
Lougee  also  gives  a  good  account  of 
this  wreck. 

Conductor  Pleber  W.  Hull  last 
week  came  into  possession  of  a  rail¬ 
road  lantern  that  he  lost  at  the  time 
of  the  Seawall’s  Falls  wreck  in  1878. 
At  that  time  Mr.  Hull  was  a  peddler 
boy  on  this  division,  then  the  Bos¬ 
ton,  Concord  &  Montreal  R.  R.  This 
was  in  the  days  of  wood  burning  lo¬ 
comotives  when  all  the  train  men 
had  to  help  wood  up  en  route.  Mr. 
Hull’s  duties  at  this  time  were  to 
climb  up  and  pull  the  rope  that  let 
the  water  into  the  tender.  He  was 
on  the  night  train  and  to  please  him 
the  train  men  gave  him  a  lantern  and 
one  of  the  men  took  the  globe  home 
and  cut  Mr.  Hull’s  name  on  the 
glass.  At  the  time  of  the  wreck,  a 
winter’s  night  36  years  ago,  the  lan¬ 
tern  was  lost.  Last  week  Engineer 
Lindsay  who  lives  at  Rumney,  found 
the  lantern  in  the  ruins  of  an  old 
blacksmith  shop  and  returned  it  to 
Mr.  Hull.  Where  the  lantern  had 


been  and  how  it  came  to  Rumney  is 
a  puzzle. 


HEBER  W.  HULL 


Plymouth,  N.  H. 

May  5,  1919. 

My  dear  Mr.  Caswell: 

I  have  been  much  interested  in  re¬ 
cent  articles  appearing  in  the  col¬ 
umns  of  your  valuable  paper,  per¬ 
taining  to  old  B.,  C.  &  M.  times.  Al¬ 
though  being  away  several  years  be¬ 
tween  1879  and  1806,  I  began  my 
railroad  life  as  “Peddler  Boy”,  (as 
they  were  called  in  those  days),  on 
the  old  Eastman  train  in  the  summer 
of  1876,  running  from  Plymouth  to 
Lancaster  and  return.  George  East¬ 
man  was  conductor;  Bill  Kimball, 
engineer;  Hi  Farnum,  fireman  and 
John  Pen  nock,  baggage  mas  ter  and 
brakeman;  all  dead  now.  On  our 


92 


return  trip  we  run  coupled  on  to  the 
Montreal  express  at  Woods  ville  with 
Ed  Mann,  conductor  and  Loren 
Clough,  brakeman  and  taken  to  Ply¬ 
mouth,  while  Kimball  wanted  help 
some  freight  over  Warren  Summit, 
then  run  light  to  Plymouth  to  take 
the  Eastman  train  out  in  the  morning. 
About  the  same  time  that  Eastman 
train  started  north,  another  two  car 
train  left  Plymouth  for  Concord  in 
charge  of  Torn  Roby  and  Patch  Clif¬ 
ford.  I  can  well  remember  the  dif¬ 
ferent  baggage  masters  on  that  train 
as  Frank  Green,  Dana  Brown,  Smith 
Clark  and  Charlie  Hill.  All  of  the 
above  named  have  passed  to  the 
Great  Beyond.  In  those  days  there 
was  one  way  freight  each  way  run  by 
Don  Foley,  A1  Haines,  John  Spauld¬ 
ing  and  Frank  Johnson,  and  one  ex¬ 
press  freight  each  way  in  charge  of 
Henry  Mann  and  Ed  Sanborn.  Pete 
Hines  run  the  “Shoo  Fly”  a  night 
train,  Concord  to  Plymouth  and  later 
on  Frank  Simpson  took  the  place  of 
Hines.  Sid  Russ  and  Ed  Mann  run 
the  mail  train  during  the  winter 
season  between  Concord  and  Ply¬ 
mouth,  Ed  working  one  week  and  Sid 
the  next.  All  were  good  men,  but  I 
used  to  think  that  Ed  Mann  was  the 
best  man  in  the  world,  and  although 
a  boy  I  was  not  the  only  one  who 
thought  so.  He  always  befriended 
me  and  later  on  when  I  came  back 
home  after  an  absence  of  seven  years 
I  found  him  Superintendent,  he  gave 
me  a  job  and  I  have  been  here  since 
then.  I  well  remember  the  wreck  of 
the  “Shoo  Fly”  at  Sewall’s  Falls, 
December  10,  1878  when  Charlie 
Hoyt  and  Jack  Lawler  went  75  feet 
down  the  bank  with  engine,  “Carrol”. 

I  have  a  lantern  that  I  lost  in  that 
wreck  that  was  returned  to  me  37 
years  later.  The  frame  of  course 
was  rusty  and  spoiled  but  the  globe 
good  as  ever  with  my  name  on  it, 
which  was  cut  in  with  a  file  by 
Frank  Whiteman,  who  was  a  fireman 
at  that  time. 


I  don’t  think  there  is  a  conductor, 
engineer  or  station  agent  here  now 
who  was  acting  in  those  capacities 
when  I  began  selling  newspapers 
and  peanuts  in  1876. 

Wishing  you  best  of  success,  I  am, 

Yours  truly, 
HEBER  W.  HULL, 


Lakeport,  N.  H.,  May  6,  1919. 
My  dear  Caswell: 

0,n  my  arrival  home  last  night  I 
found  your  letter  waiting  me.  Speak¬ 
ing  of  the  Sewell's  Falls  wreck  41 
years  ago  next  December,  would  say: 

I  remember  the  night  very  well  as 
Clarence  Adams  and  myself  run  the 
wrecking  train  that  night  from  Lake 
Village.  The  bridge  over  the  Merri¬ 
mack  was  swept  away,  and  we  were 
at  East  Concord  from  Tuesday  night 
until  Friday  night,  when  they  got 
across  the  bridge  and  we  run  what  is 
now  81  to  Woodsville  that , night.  The 
same  night  John  Marsh  and  O.  D. 
Bailey  went  into  Baker’s  River  at 
Wentworth  with  the  Franconia  and 
Moosilauke.  Mr.  Adams  and  my¬ 
self  came  very  near  being  in  that 
wreck.  We  left  Concord  Tuesday  af¬ 
ternoon  with  the  empty  stock  racks, ' 
Henry  Mann  conductor.  We  had  for 
an  engine  the  Ashland.  We  arrived 
at  Lake  Village  with  a  hot  driver 
box  and  they  cut  us  out,  and  O.  B. 
Bailey  and  Harlie  Whiting  took  the 
train,  hitched  in  with  John  Marsh 
with  engine  Franconia,  and  they  had 
for  engyie  the  Moosilauke. 

Jack  Lawler  was  firing  what  is  now 
train  81;  he  had  for  engineer  Charles 
Holt  with  engine  Carroll.  When 
about  two  miles  above  East  Concord 
near  where  the  dam  is  across  the 
Merrimack,  they  ran  into  a  washout, 
engine  and  baggage  car  going  down 
over  the  bank,  Mr.  Lawler  was  in¬ 
jured  quite  badly  and  was  taken  to 
the  American  house  at  Concord  where 
he  remained  for  several  weeks,  there 
being  no  hospital  in  Concord  at  that 
time.  There  was  a  corpse  on  the 


93 


front  end  of  the  baggage  car  and 
when  we  got  there  with  the  wrecker 
we  found  it  standing  up  on  o,ne  end 
against  a  tree  with  one  end  of  the 
box  broken  open.  After  getting  the 
wreck  cleared  we  ran  extra  between 
East  Concord  and  Sewell’s  Falls  to 
connect  with  a  train  they  were  run¬ 
ning  over  the  old  'Northern  to  Sew¬ 
ell's  Falls  to  bring  passengers  from 
Concord  and  south  who  were  going 
over  the  B.  C.  &  M. 

We  got  our  meals  at  Uncle  John 
Hutchins’  who  was  foreman  of  the 
section  at  East  Concord.  Mr.  Lor  an 
Clough  was  station  agent  and  he  had 
all  kiinds  of  musical  instruments  in 
the  depot  and  one  was  a  hand  organ. 
Every  time  we  would  go  to  our 
meals  we  would  take  the  hand  organ 
and  play  through  the  streets.  Uncle 
John  used  to  say  that  we  were  “aw¬ 
ful  boys,”  and  I  guess  he  was  right. 
In  one  of  Mr.  Adams’  letters  in  re¬ 
gard  to  the  extra  train  we  run  to  the 
Weirs  from  Concord:  It  was  called 
the  steer  train,  as  we  were  only  boys, 
Mr.  Adams  being  19  years  of  age  and 
I  was  18  years;  hut  we  always  got 
by  without  any  accidents.  Those 
were  happy  days,  just  like  one  family 
of  big  boys.  'Some  different  than  to¬ 
day.  There  is  not  a  conductor,  en¬ 
gineer  or  station  agent  between  Con¬ 
cord  and  Groveton  here  today  who 
were  here  when  I  started  i*n  rail¬ 
roading  excepting  Mr.  Adams,  who 
was  then  in  the  motive  power  de¬ 
partment;  in  fact  there  are  no  en¬ 
gineers  running  today  who  were  run¬ 
ning  when  I  went  to  firing.  I  started 
yi  March  15,  1873  and  worked  one 
year  in  the  shops  at  Lake  Village  be¬ 
fore  I  went  to  firing.  Mr.  F.  H.  Bur¬ 
leigh  went  to  firing  in  June  of  the 
same  year  I  went  to  firing,  so  I  have 
lived  to  see  the  old  timers  pass 
away.  George  E.  Hutchins  of  Berlin 
was  running  for  the  Whitefield  Lum¬ 
ber  Co.,  but  was  a  B.  C.  &  M.  man  be¬ 
fore  going  to  work  for  the  lumber 
road.  I  think  this  booklet  will  be 


very  nice  in  years  to  come  as  the 
yoiyiger  class  can  see  how  we  old 
timers  got  along  in  the  early  days  of 
railroading. 

Yours  truly, 

F.  W.  Lougee. 


To  add  to  the  interest  of  this  little 
volume  Conductor  A.  J.  Mooney  of 
the  Southern  division  of  the  Boston  & 
Maine,  now  running  the  “Cannon 
Ball,”  Boston  to  Plymouth,  writes  a 
most  interesting  letter.  “Al”  Mooney 
started  railroading,  as  will  be  seen 
by  his  letter,  in  the  old  days  of  hand 
brakes  and  wood  burners,  has  grown 
up  in  the  service  and  looks  back  with 
pride  to  the  fact  that  he  did  “his  bit” 
in  helping  to  develop  the  old  Boston, 
Concord  &  Montreal. 

To  the  Editor  Warren  News, 

Warren,  N.  H. 

Dear  Sir:  — 

I  have  read  several  letters  of  late 
in  your  paper  written  by  some  of  the 
old  time  railroad  men  on  the  old  B. 
C.  &  M.,  and  they  have  been  very  in¬ 
teresting  to  me  as  it  takes  me  back 
to  those  days  when  I  first  entered 
the  service  at  Lake  Village,  in  1871. 

Miles  Taylor  was  agent,  and  I  was 
his  chief  clerk.  My  work  was  up  at 
4  a.  m.,  throwing  switches,  riding 
cars,  loading  and  'unloading  freight, 
Checking  and  loading  baggage  on  ar¬ 
rival  of  all  trains,  whenever  an  extra 
brakeman  was  needed,  go  to  Concord 
and  back;  all  the  spare  time  I  was 
to  assist  in  sawing  wood  for  the  en¬ 
gines,  and  it  required  at  this  station 
about  25  cords  daily. 

Coal  burning  engines  in  this  sec¬ 
tion  of  New  England  were  not  even 
thought  of  at  that  time.  All  engines 
were  burning  wood,  the  cars  were 
heated  with  wood  stoves,  and  lighted 
with  spermaceti  candles.  Large 
sheds  were  located  along  the  line,  at 
different  points  and  filled  with  cord 
wood  during  the  winter  months;  the 
most  of  the  wood  was  drawn  with  ox 
teams;  and  was  sawed  ready  for  train 


4 


94 

use  by  small  steam  engines  or  horse  The  night  was  dark  and  rainy; 
power  and  thrown  into  small  cars  so  about  11.46  the  train  pulled  in,  Peter 
it  could  be  easily  moved  to  the  tender.  Hines  conductor.  I  was  stationed  be- 
June  24-th,  1872,  I  was  called  to  tween  the  two  rear  cars.  I  was  to 
Plymouth  to  see  iSupt.  Joseph  A.  stand  up  at  all  times  and  near  the 
Dodge;  after  asking  me  lots  of  ques-  brakes.  The  train  consisted  of  en- 


A.  J.  MOONEY 


tions,  did  I  drink,  smoke  or  chew  to-  gine,  baggage,  passenger  and  a  Pull- 
bacco?  and  giving  me  lots  of  advice  man  sleeper. 

he  said,  “I  am  going  to  give  you  a  All  the  stops  were  made  with  hand 
position  as  brakemajo  on  the  night  ex-  brakes.  Links  and  pins  between  each 

press  and  you  take  it  at  Plymouth  car,  the  platforms  so  far  apart  that 

tonight,  and  if  you  prove  a  good,  one  had  to  jump  from  one  to  the 

faithful  boy,  in  due  time  you  will  get  other.  We  made  all  the  stops.  Wood 

something  better.”  and  water  at  Warren  and  East  Ha- 


95 


verhill,  arrived  at  Woodsville  on 
time. 

On  the  return  trip  we  stopped  at 
East  Haverhill,  Warren,  Plymouth, 
'Meredith  village  and  Northfield  for 
wood  and  water.  At  each  one  of 
these  places,  we  took  about  five 
cords,  and  it  all  had  to  be  handled  by 
the  train  crew.  Besides  we  had  to 
wood  up  the  cars  for  the  trip  to  Bos¬ 
ton  and  return. 

The  train  arrived  in  Concord 
about  5.30  a.  m.  I  was  wet,  hungry, 
dirty,  hands  bleeding  and  discour¬ 
aged.  This  was  my  first  trip  in  the 
passenger  service,  and  would  have 
been  my  last  had  it  -not  been  for  my 
brother  Frank,  who  was  baggage 
master  on  the  train  that  morning. 
The  lecture  he  gave  me  I  have  never 
forgotten.  I  stuck  to  this  job  for 
four  long  years  without  missing  a 
trip.  I  was  in  the  wreck  at  Sewell’s 
Falls  when  Charlie  Hoit  and  Jack 
Lawler  were  badly  injured.  The  en¬ 
gine  went  down  the  bank  about  80 
feet.  George  Smith  and  H.  Hull,  who 
were  on  the  train  were  both  injured. 

I  was  in  a  wreck  at  East  Haverhill 
when  the  night  express  struck  three 
freight  cars  opposite  the  siding. 
These  cars  had  been  blown  from  the 
siding.  This  was  a  fearful  night, 
snowing  and  blowing  hard.  A  heavy 
freight  was  following  us  from  the 
summit.  Joe  Hooker  was  engineer. 

I  went  back  to  flag  them  and  had  just 
reached  the  edge  of  the  woods  when 
they  hove  in  sight.  Hooker  made  the 
stop  of  his  life,  about  six  car  lengths 
from  the  rear  of  the  express.  I  re¬ 
member  one  dark  night  going  down 
the  north  side  of  Warren  Summit  we 
struck  and  killed  1'2  sheep  and  Geo. 
Smith  and  myself  were  chosen  to  cut 
their  throats  with  Frank  Simpson’s 
old  dull  knife.  It  was  some  job. 

After  four  years  of  night  work  I 
was  put  on  the  day  express  with  Con¬ 
ductor  E.  F.  Mann,  who  was  after¬ 
wards  superintendent  of  train  serv¬ 


ice.  He  was  a  Mann  iby  name,  and  a 
gentleman  by  nature,  loved  and  re¬ 
spected  by  all  who  knew  him. 

My  first  trip  was  with  Peter  Hines, 
conductor;  engineer,  Frank  Swasey; 


CHARLIE  HOIT 

An  old  time  B.,  C.  &  M.  Engineer 

fireman,  Frank  Whiteman;  baggage- 
master,  George  F.  Smith.  Engine, 
Laconia.  The  return  trip,  Conductor, 
Hines;  engineer,  West  Lyons;  I.  F. 
Mooney,  baggage  master.  About 
three  years  later  the  road  commenced 
to  equip  the  engines  with  air  brakes; 
the  cars  with  air  brakes,  Miller  plat¬ 
forms  and  Miller  couplers.  The  first 
engine  to  be  equipped  was  the  Car- 
roll  and  one  baggage  car,  and  made 
their  first  trip  on  the  night  express, 
Concord  to  Woodsville.  A  few  years 
later  all  the  engines  and  cars  were 


96 


equipped  with  air  and  controlled  by 
the  engineer.  Since  those  days  a 
brakeman’s  position  has  been  a  cinch. 

The  couplers  now  used  between  all 
passenger  and  freight  cars  in  the 


I.  F.  MOONEY 

Oldest  present  day  conductor.  See  page  64 

United  iStates  and  Canada  was  first 
thought  of  and  invented  by  Mr. 
Mitchell,  an  old  man,  who  was  watch¬ 
man  and  cleaner  in  the  engine  house 
at  Lancaster,  N.  H.,  some  time  in  1875 
to  1880.  I  have  watched  him  whit- 
ling  the  model.  A  company  was 
formed  with  Smith  &  Tinkham,  both 
of  Lancaster  at  the  head.  Stock  was 
sold  and  a  large  number  of  cars  were 
equipped  on  the  old  Eastern  R.  R.,  at 
Boston,  but  for  some  reason  it  was  a 
failure.  Later  it  changed  hands  and 
made  improvements  utn'til  it  has  be¬ 


come  one  great  success.  This  was 
at  that  time  called  the  United  States 
coupler.  The  only  trains  south  of 
Plymouth  in  those  days  was  an  early 
train  leaving  Plymouth  in  the  morn¬ 
ing  for  Concord  and  return  in  the 
evening,  called  the  “Shoofily”;  later 
it  ran  through  to  Montreal  ?fid  was 
called  the  Montreal  air  line  express; 
still  later  the  Montreal  night  express. 

Tom  Robie’s  train  left  Plymouth  in 
the  morning  for  Concord,  returning 
in  the  afternoon;  the  mail  train,  Con¬ 
cord  to  Plymouth  and  return;  Dave 
Furgerscfi  and  Sid  Russ  conductors. 

There  was  only  one  freight  daily, 
Woodsville  to  Concord.  Every  Mon¬ 
day,  the  cattle  train,  Woodsville  to 
Watertown,  Mass.  Some  of  the  old 
conductors  were:  cattle  train,  John 
Butler,  (Henry  Mann,  Manas  Perkins, 
A1  Uavnes.  Chet  Carpenter,  engin¬ 
eer.  The  through  freights:  O.  R. 
Farrar.  Frank  Drew  (was  killed  at 
Winchester.  Mass  ),  (Nat  Wyatt  (killed 
at  Woodsville),  George  Strive  (killed 
at  North  Haverhill),  High  Moulton 
(killed  on  the  Mountain  Division), 
George  Prescott,  Dan  Folley,  George 
Poor. 

I  remember  all  of  the  old  engines. 
At  that  time  our  largest  ones  only 
weighed  between  25  and  30  tons;  to¬ 
day  we  have  them  160  tons.  The  pas¬ 
senger  coaches  were  about  33  feet 
long,  while  today  they  are  70  feet 
long.  The  rails  at  that  time  were  17 
feet  long;  today  they  are  33  feet. 
When  the  old  Mt.  Washington  came  it 
weighed  40  tons. 

The  split  switch  that  is  now  used 
on  every  railroad  in  the  United  States 
and  Canada  was  invented  by  a  poor 
old  Jrishman  who  worked  on  the 
section  on  the  White  field  and  Jeffer¬ 
son  R.  R.,  sometime  in  the  eighteen 
seventies,  pftd  was  intended  for  an 
expansion  rail,  and  was  first  in  use 
as  such  on  the  curve  just  east  of 
Bethlehem  Junction,  by  iSupt.  W.  A. 
Stowe  11  in  1882  or  ’83.  I  was  there 
and  saw  it  in  use  on  this  curve. 


97 


During  extreme  hot  weather  the  rails 
would  spread  or  kink  up  and  the 
switch  was  used  as  an  experiment. 
Afterwards  some  one  saw  the  idea  of 
U'syig  it  as  above  stated,  and  it  has 
been  proven  one  of  the  greatest  in 
railroading. 

Coming  down  Warren  Summit  one 
night  there  was  a  very  heavy  fog  in 
the  valley  below,  and  the  tops  of  the 
old  stub  trees  just  stuck  up  through 
the  fog,  and  looking  ship  masts  in  a 
harbor.  I  was  standing  inside  Ojue 
of  the  passenger  cars  and  I  heard 
some  one  saying,  “John,  John,  wake 
up,  we  are  coming  into  Boston,  I  can 
see  the  ship  masts  in  the  harbor.” 
The  man’s  voice  answered,  “'Go  to 
sleep  you  big  fool,  we  have  just  left 
Woodsville.” 

I  forgot  to  say  that  after  wood 
stoves  came  the  Baker  &  Eastman 
hot  water  heater,  then  came  steam  di¬ 
rect  from  the  engine. 

The  oldest  conductor  now  living 
and  still  in  the  service  is  my  brother, 
I.  F.  Mooney.  iHad  I  stayed  on  that 
division  he  and  myself  would  have 
been  the  only  two  left.  I  came  to 
the  Southern  division  in  1885  and  am 
still  in  the  service. 

A.  J.  MOONEY,  Conductor. 

Southern  Division. 

84  Federal  St.,  Salem,  Mass. 


Tilton,  N.  H.,  May  5,  1919. 
Friend  Caswell: 

Recalling  some  of  the  old  B.  C.  & 
M.  days,  there  is  one  which  I  remem¬ 
ber  very  well  and  that  is  the  annual 
meeting  or  as  it  was  commonly 
known,  stockholders’  day.  This  meet¬ 
ing  was  called  the  Monday  proceed¬ 
ing  the  last  Tuesday  in  May,  and  it 
was  some  day.  This  was  the  day  on 
which  the  stockholders  received  their 
annual  dividend,  (and  I  guess  about 
the  only  dividend)  a  free  ride. 

About  two  weeks  before  the  meet¬ 
ing  an  order  would  be  issued  from 
Mr.  Dodge’s  office  at  Plymouth  to  the 


heads  of  the  different  departments 
for  a  general  cleaning  up  and  every¬ 
body  got  busy.  The  Road  depart¬ 
ment  issued  instructions  to  the  sec¬ 
tion  men  to  clean  up  the  right  of 
way,  stations  were  cleaned  up  and 
everything  put  in  good  shape.  On 
Sunday  the  men  who  were  assigned 
to  run  the  special  trains  on  Monday 
the  day  of  the  meeting,  would  work 
all  day  on  the  engine  which  they 
were  to  have,  cleaning  and  putting  it 
in  order.  The  engine  was  closely  in¬ 
spected,  every  piece  of  'brass  work 
was  cleaned  and  polished  so  it  shone 
like  a  gold  piece.  Everything  was  in 
perfect  order  before  they  left  it. 
Monday  morning  two  engines  would 
go  to  Concord  (Hght.  and  one  to  Ply¬ 
mouth  for  the  special  trains.  The 
first  extra  as  it  was  called,  from 
Concord  would  do  the  local  work  be¬ 
tween  Concord  and  Plymouth;  the 
second  would  handle  the  stock-hold¬ 
ers  and  friends  from  points  below 
Concord,  and  generally  was  ahead  of 
the  regular  train. 

Those  holding  several  shares  of 
stock  generally  remembered  their 
friends  and  gave  them  a  free  ride,  as 
there  were  no  restrictions  on  loaning 
the  stock  as  there  is  now.  North  of 
Plymouth  the  people  came  to  Ply¬ 
mouth  on  the  regular  mail  train  and 
returned  on  the  extra  which  left  Ply¬ 
mouth  albout  5  p.  m.,  and  run  to 
Woodsville.  As  a  rule  very  few  of 
these  people  attended  the  railroad 
meeting  as  most  of  them  were  out 
for  a  good  time  and  a  free  ride. 
Around  1  o’clock  the  grounds  around 
the  Pemigewasset  House  would  he 
covered  with  men,  women  and  chil¬ 
dren  eating  , their  dinner,  as  many  of 
them  carried  their  own  lunch.  Some 
of  those  who  held  stock  would  ride 
all  day  between  Woodsville  atnd  Bos¬ 
ton.  I  remember  one  man  in  particu¬ 
lar,  who  lived  at  Lake  Village,  who 
would  start  in  the  morning  on  the 
“Shoofly,”  now  known  as  52,  land1 


98 


ride  until  'the  last  train  at  night;  that 
was  the  way  he  collected  his  dividend. 

‘My  first  experience  with  the  stock¬ 
holders’  extra  was  the  extra  .north  of 
Plymouth.  I  do  not  remember  the, 
year,  but  think  it  was  ’74  or  ’75.  I 
had  the  Chocorua,  and  Seth  Green- 
loaf  was  the  conductor,  and  it  was 
the  last  trip  he  ever  run  as  con¬ 
ductor.  I  very  well  remember  .Mr. 
Dodge  sending  for  me  to  come  to 
the  Pemigewasset  House;  he  met 
me  at  the  head  of  the  stairs  and  said 
in  his  brusque  way,  “Clarence,  you 
going  to  run  the  extra  to  Woods- 
vill'e ?”  1  said,  “Yes,  sir”;  he  says, 
“Mr.  Greenleaf  will  go  as  conductor 
but  he  has  not  ru,n  for  some  time  and 
shall  hold  you  responsible;  now  be 
very  careful.”  I  said,  “alright,”  and 
left  him.  We  left  Plymouth  around 
5  p.  m.,  and  had  one  south  bound 
train  to  meet.  I  made  Jarve’s  track, 
later  known  as  Sanborn’s  track,  and 
pulled  in.  After  we  got  stopped  Seth 
put  his  head  out  of  the  baggage  car 
door  and  said,  “What  you  stopping 
here  for,  boy?”  I  said,  “We  have  to 
meet  a  freight.”  “Oh!  all  right,”  he 
said  and  closed  the  door.  As  soo4n  as 
the  freight  passed  we  backed  out  and 
proceeded. 

Later  I  run  the  Concord  extras  for 
several  years,  with  different  con¬ 
ductors.  One  in  particular  I  remem¬ 
ber  was  with  Dick  Langdon.  We 
were  ready  to  leave  Plymouth  and 
the  engine  was  near  the  old  freight 
house.  Dick  came  down  to  the  en¬ 
gine  and  said  “The  ‘old  ma^!  _yyants 
to  see  you.”  I  went  up  to  the  Pemi¬ 
gewasset  House  and  met  Mr.  Dodge 
on  the  stairs.  “How  late  you  going 
to  be  Clarence?”  “About  15  minutes,” 

I  replied.  “No  gtops  between  here 
and  Laconia?”  he  says.  “Not  that  I 
know  of,”  says  I.  “Now  Clarence,  I 
want  you  to  be  very  careful  through 
the  stations  and  over  the  switches, 
and  remember  you  have  a  lot  o(f 
people  in  your  care,  be  careful.”  I 
said  Mr.  Dodge,  I  suppose  you  want 


to  get  this  train  into  Concord  on 
time,  don’t  you?”  “Hm!  Hm!  I  will 
telegraph  the  Concord  folks  to  wait  a 
minute  for  you,”  was  the  reply. 
Some  leeway  there.  Mr.  Dodge 
would  never  convict  himself  that  way, 
but  still  he  wanted  time  made  where- 
ever  possible,  and  it  was  alright  as 
long  as  everything  went  along 
smoothly. 

I  remember  of  one  trip  an  the 
stock  train  with  John  'Butler  con¬ 
ductor.  I  got  the  tip  at  Plymouth 
from  Job4n  that  Mr.  Dodge  was  going 
with  us  so  was  very  careful  from 
there  to  Meredith.  Ait  Meredith  we 
met  Robie’s  train  and  I  supposed  of 
course  Mr.  Dodge  would  go  back  on 
that,  but  he  did  not.  We  made  a 
quick  run  to  Lake  Village,  stopped  at 
the  freight  house,  cut  off  and  run 
down  to  woodshed.  I  got  down  to 
oil  and  looked  up  towards  the  bridge 
and  saw  Mr.  Dodge  and  John  walk¬ 
ing  down  together.  Mr.  Dodge 
stopped  at  the  freight  house  and  John 
came  along  to  the  engine;  I  said 
“Gee!  I  thought  Mr.  Dodge  went  back 
from  Meredith.”  “Well,  he  didn’t,” 
John  said  and  “I  guess  you  are  in  it 
boy.”  Well  I  was.  The  next  day 
when  I  showed  up  at  Lake  Village, 
father  showed  me  a  letter  from  Mr. 
Dodge,  ordering  him  to  lay  me  off 
for  ten  days. 

'Still  those  were  the  happy  days 
and  every  man  was  loyal  to  the  com¬ 
pany  and  each  and  every  one  felt  as 
though  they  were  a  part  of  the  road. 
How  the  train  crews  hi\og  together! 
If  anything  happened  on  the  trip  it 
was  every  man  “Johnny  on  the  spot,” 
to  help  out  of  the  trouble  to  get  out 
of  it  the  best  and  quickest  way  pos¬ 
sible  and  keep  it  out  of  headquarters, 
Many  things  occurred  in  those  days 
which  never  reached  headquarters, 
which  today  could  not  be  kept  under 
your  hat  five  minutes. 

I  might  relate  some  instances  rela¬ 
tive  to  the  loyalty  of  the  train  crews 
of  the  old  days,  one  of  which  appeals 


to  me  now,  and  no  douibt  Mr.  Cum¬ 
mings  will  recall  it  if  I  freshen  Ms 
memory  a  little,  and  if  I  am  right  I 
think  we  two  are  the  only  ones  left 
to  recall  this  occurrence  of  many 
years  ago.  Around  1874  or  ’75,  we 
were  ruiyiing  a  work  train  in  the  fall 
picking  up  old  ties  to  be  unloaded  in 
the  sheds  at  .Bridgewater  and  Woods- 
ville,  later  sawed  and  used  as  fuel 
for  the  engines.  We  had  about  12  flat 
cars,  a  saloon  and  two  or  three  board¬ 
ing  cars  and  lived  on  the  trai*u  and 
made  our  headquarters  at  different 
stations  along  the  line  and  on  the 
road.  At  this  time  we  were  working 
around  Wentworth  and  had  followed 
the  mail  train  north  to  pick  up  on 
the  straight  line  north  of  Wentworth. 

After  cleaning  up  there  and  having 
a  little  more  time  to  work,  Mr.  Cum¬ 
mings  said  we  would  go  south  of  the 
station  and  pick  up,  so  we  started 
down  the  straight  line  at  a  fair  clip. 
Unbeknown  to  us  the  section  fore¬ 
man,  Ed.  Glynn  at  W  e^t worth,  after 
we  went  north  had  pushed  a  car  of 
ties  out  of  the  siding  onto  crossing  or 
near  it  to  unload.  After  I  whistled 
for  the  crossing  at  Wentworth,  I 
stepped  over  to  the  left  hand  side, 
(the  engine  was  backing),  and  no¬ 
ticed  this  car.  I  jumped  back  called 
for  brakes,  and  threw  her  over, — too 
late  though.  We  cornered  the  oar 
and  drove  it  in  to  clear;  section  men 
jumped  and  no  one  was  hurt.  The 
old  Belknap  was  slightly  disfigured, 
but  still  in  the  ring.  The  tank  was 
moved  a  little,  the  coupling  casting 
on  breast  beam  was  laid  right  over 
and  bolt  bent  and  stiff  shackle  bent. 
We  managed  to  get  into  clear  after 
awhile.  Ed  Glynn  admitted  it  was 
his  fault  and  wanted  to  fix  it  up  and 
not  have  it  reported.  So  he  got  a 
carpenter  and  we  went  at  it;  worked 
until  nearly  2  o’clock  the  next  morn¬ 
ing  and  was  ready  to  pull  out  agaitn 
on  time.  No  report  was  ever  made 
and  so  far  as  I  know  no  one  out¬ 


side  of  our  own  crew  knew  anything 
about  it.  As  time  passed,  later  the 
Belknap  was  taken  into  the  shop  for 
general  repairs  and  the  breast  beam 
was  taken  off  and  the  piece  we  had 
fitted  in  was  discovered.  One  day 
father  spoke  about  it,  arid  I  told  him 
the  circumstances.  He  had  a  habit 
of  scratching  the  back  of  one  hand 
while  thinking,  and  did  so  this  time, 
then  looked  at  me  and  said,  “You 
kept  that  d — m  still  didn’t  you?” 

*  C.  W.  ADAMS. 


GEORGE  M.  SMITH 

One  of  the  First  B.,  C.  &  M.  Telegraph 
Operators,  now  at  Sanbornville,  N.  H. 

C.  E.  Caswell, 

Warren,  N.  H, 

Dear  Sir: 

I  received  the  two  recent  copies  of 
the  News  for  which  thanks;  also 


100 


your  circular  letter.  Am  glad  you 
are  to  issue  a  book  covering  the  his¬ 
tory  of  the  old  B.,  C.  &  M.,  as  it  was 
on  that  read  I  began  work  and  knew 
so  many  of  the  boys  employed  in  the 
early  seventies. 

I  commenced  work  in  January 
1871  at  Woodsville  as  telegraph  op¬ 
erator;  Henry  W.  Ramsay,  agent. 
Have  been  in  the  employ  of  what  is 
now  the  Boston  and  Maine  continu¬ 
ously  since  thep  and  am  No.  3  on 
the  Portland  Division  Roster  of 
Agents  and  Operators.  Was  train 
dispatcher  here  26  years  until  the 
Northern  Division  was  abolished  and 
merged  with  the  Eastern  and  West¬ 
ern  Divisions. 

Yours  truly, 
GEORGE  M.  SMITH. 

Sanbornville,  N.  H. 

May  18,  1919. 


ing  one  o:  the  passenger  trains  be¬ 
tween  Woodsville  and  Concord. 
John  W.  Buckley  started  as  engine 
cleaner  at  Fabyans,  June  25.  1879. 
He  says  Joe  Prescott  hired  him  at 
$1.00  a  day.  He  paid  O.  G.  Barron 
$4.00  a  week  for  board,  saving  as 
much  as  he  could  of  the  remaining 
$2.00.  Three  months  later  he  made 
his  first  trip  as  fireman  on  the  old 
Laconia,  whose  number  was  14. 
This  trip  was  Fabyans  to  Wing  Road 
and  return.  He  was  handicapped 
for  an  education  and  that  fall  laid 
off  and  attended  school  at  South 
Ryegate,  Vt.,  working  for  his  board. 
The  following  spring  he  went  back 
on  to  the  road  and  laid  off  again  the 
next  fall  for  the  same  purpose.  Two 
years  later  he  was  promoted  as  en¬ 
gineer.  This  was  an  unusually  short 
time  for  an  apprentice  to  step  on  to 


Railroad  and  River  at  Wentworth  Today 


In  an  article  by  J.  Weston  Lyons 
of  Elkhart,  Ind.,  mention  is  made  of 
Little  John  Buckley  being  in  a  wreck 
over  on  the  M.  &  W.  road  near  Gro¬ 
ton,  Vt.,  and  losing  his  cap  back  in 
the  ’70s.  This  same  lad  is  a  present 
day  Boston  &  Maine  engineer,  haul- 


the  locomotive  foot  board,  but  John¬ 
nie  Buckley  was  a  natural  born  en¬ 
gineer,  and  the  road  officials  realized 
it.  Some  good  fatherly  advice  from 
Ralph  Adams  always  stayed  with 
him.  John  Buckley  “knows  the 
road”  far  south  as  Nashua  and  all 


101 

the  branches  up  this  way,  the  Pas-  field,  who  was  in  the  North  Haver- 


sumpsic  division  to  Sherbrooke,  P. 
Q.,  to  White  River  Junction,  St.  J.  & 
L.  C.,  and  the  Montpelier  Road. 
John  Buckley  certainly  knows  how 


JOHN  W.  BUCKLEY 


to  handle  a  locomotive,  especially  in 
this  mountain  region  where  he  was 
born  and  raised. 


In  another  article  I  stated  that 
Edgar  Davison  was  killed  at  Little¬ 
ton  a  few  years  ago.  Since  it  was 
printed  I  learn  this  it  not  so.  His 
health  failed  him  and  he  went  to 
California,  and  is  now  at  Los  An¬ 
geles,  in  Y.  M.  C.  A.  work. 

Dick  Bentnett  was  well  known  to 
engineers  for  more  than  40  years 
being  connected  with  the  motive  de¬ 
partment.  Zack  Keniston  of  North- 


hii:l  wreck  in  1882  when  a  freight 
run  back  from  East  Haverhill,  col¬ 
liding  with  the  way  freight  at  North 
Haverhill,  was  not  killed,  as  pre¬ 
viously  reported  in  this  article,  but 
was  injured  for  life. 


George  Lyons  was  an  engineer  for 
the  old  road  many  years  ago,  a 
brother  of  J.  Weston  Lyons.  George 
went  to  Lincoln  soon  after  the  road 
changed  hands  and  run  an  engine 
for  the  Hepry  Lumber  Company. 
Westefi  went  out  west.  He  now  re¬ 
sides  at  Elkhart,  Ind.  There  is  a 
long  letter  from  him  near  the  close 
of  this  series  of  letters. 


I  was  talking  with  Frank  (Stub) 
Little  the  other  day,  and  he  had  a 
whole  lots  of  good  things  to  say 
about  the  late  Edward  F.  Mann.  All 
the  boys  liked  Ed  Mann.  Stub  said 
one  day  he  fell  “between  ’em”  at  Ply¬ 
mouth  and  got  quite  badly  hurt.  Ed 
came  along  and  looked  at  him  as  he 
was  suffering  from  his  bruises,  and 
said,  “Better  get  on  the  express  and 
go  home,  you  will  feel  better  after 
the  ache  is  over.”  He  said  he  came 
home  and  Ed  Mann  allowed  his  time 
to  go  on  all  the  while  he  was  laid  up. 
That  was  but  one  trait  of  character 
of  iMr.  Mann. 


Eugene  Dcpno  of  Lowell,  present 
day  passenger  conductor  White 
River  to  Boston,  was  a  B.,  C.  &  M. 
man  35  years  or  more  ago.  Then 
there  is  A.  P.  Davis  of  Concord,  an¬ 
other  old  timer.  Henry  White  of 
Plymouth  for  a  few  years  after 
George  Eastman  died  used  to  run 
“'Eastman’s”  train.  Later  he  went 
on  the  P.  V.  branch  and  became  al¬ 
most  a  part  of  that  branch. 


There  were  three  Nourse  boys  at 
Lancaster:  Fred,  Mel  and  Harry. 
Harry  Nourse  began  with  the  old 
road  and  run  a  baggage  car  for  25 


102 


years  or  more.  Mel  is  an  engineer 
and  Fred  Nourse  has  served  the  pub¬ 
lic  in  various  branches.  He  went  to 
work  for  the  road  as  passenger 
brakeiman  in  1876  and  was  promoted 
to  passenger  conductor  in  1880;  after 
serving  in  that  capacity  for  two 
years  he  was  made  station  agent  at 
Lancaster,  in  'September  1881  where 
he  remained  for  ten  years,  after 
which  he  returned  to  the  train  serv¬ 
ice,  serving  two  years  more  as  pas¬ 
senger  conductor,  afterw  hich  he  serv¬ 
ered  his  connection  with  the  com¬ 
pany  to  take  nip  a  general  insurance 
business  which  he  has  since  fol¬ 
lowed. 


me  lots  of  good.  I  have  had  a  num¬ 
ber  of  the  railroad  men  for  boarders 
since  I  have  been  alone.  I  have  a 
good  many  of  the  young  runners.'’ 

Wilbur  C,  Gordon  is  another  who 
started  railroading  practically  under 
the  old  road.  He  and  a  number  of 
others  who  went  to  work  about  the 
same  time  were  always  reckoned  as 
the  “old  boys,”  although  it  was  in  the 
last  days  of  the  B.,  iC.  &  M.  they  be¬ 
gan  signing  the  call-book.  Gordon 
is  now  on  a  farm  here  in  Warren. 
He  was  a  good  railroad  man,  worked 
in  various  branches  of  the  service. 
He  has  a  brother  on  one  of  the  west¬ 
ern  reads. 


B.,  C.  &  M.  TRAIN 


Mrs.  A.  L.  Smith,  21  Wall  St.,  Con¬ 
cord,  N.  iH.,  writes  in  part:  “My  hus¬ 
band  was  a  railroad  man,  and  if  my 
memory  serves  me  right,  he  did  all 
his  firing  for  Orrin  Berdean.  I  don’t 
think  he  ever  fired  for  anyone  else. 
He  run  a  shifter  here  in  Concord 
yard  the  first  of  his  running.  His 
first  trip  out  on  the  road  was  April, 
1887.  (I  came  across  his  first  train 
order  a  few  days  ago.)  He  was  a 
spare  runner  his  last  days.  He  has 
been  gone  23  years  last  March. 
When  I  recently  looked  over  the  list 
of  those  old  time  railroad  men  it  did 


Charles  I.  Swain,  present  day  sta¬ 
tion  agent  at  Meredith  commenced  his 
railroad  work  for  the  road  handling 
wood  for  the  old  engines  to  eat  up 
and  throw  out  in  smoke  and  cinders. 
A  year  or  two  later  he  started  doing 
baggage  work,  doing  spare  work  on 
the  line  for  a  number  of  years,  after 
which  he  was  station  agent  at  War¬ 
ren  Summit,  Rumney  and  for  the  last 
14  years  has  been  at  Meredith. 


Ernest  R.  Little  is  another  fellow 
of  about  the  same  “railroad  age”  as 
Swain.  Little  is  third  trek  operator 


103 


at  Laconia.  He  has  done  spare  sta¬ 
tion  work  for  the  road  off-and-on  for 
thirty  years. 


.v<vv.v.v.v.\ 
■Vry////////.- 

pplii 


J.  K.  CORLISS 


a  more  careful  driver  than  J.  K. 
Corliss.  Although  by  no  means  an 
old  man  in  the  rank  of  service,  he  is 
proud  to  know  that  he  helped  even 
in  a  small  way  the  development  of 
the  old  B.,  C.  &  M.  and  down  through 
the  years  has  been  instrumental  in 
“carrying  on”  up  to  the  present  day, 
hoping  for  years  of  continued  serv¬ 
ice. 


Superintendents  of  the  road  have 
been:  Peter  Clark,  James  N.  Elkins, 
James  M.  Whiton,  John  T.  Coffin, 
Joseph  A.  Dodge,  Edward  F.  Mann. 
W.  A.  Stowell, 


Eugene  Donivan  was  another  B., 
C.  &  M.  man  who  has  been  lost 
track  of. 


One  of  the  faithful  engineers  of 
the  present  day  who  started  on  the 
old  road  is  Jep  Corliss.  Young  Cor¬ 
liss  went  to  firing  an  old  wood  burn¬ 
ing  locomotive  in  October,  1879.  He 
made  steam  for  the  Boston,  Concord 
&  Montreal  until  July  1,  1883,  when 
he  was  given  an  engine  to  run. 
Being  naturally  mechanically  in¬ 
clined  as  the  years  have  come  and 
gone  he  has  taken  pride  in  the  me¬ 
chanical  workings  of  his  machines 
and  has  always  been  recognized  as  a 
trusty  and  faithful  employee,  and 
today  is  hauling  one  of  the  fast  Ca¬ 
nadian  Pacific  expresses  between 
Plymouth,  'N.  H.,  and  Newport,  Vt. 
Probably  there  is  not  or  never  was 
another  engineer  on  the  road  who  is 


FRED  A.  CLIFFORD 

A  good  and  faithful  B. ,  C.  &  M.  engineer. 
-Photo,  by  the  Kimball  Studio,  Concord,  N.  H. 


104 

One  extremely  cold  morning  dur-  Andrew  J.  Pike,  whose  name  has 


ing  the  winter  of  1918  engineer  A.  P. 
Lake  of  the  paper  train  was  fatally 
scalded  by  a  safety  plug  blowing  out 
of  the  boiler  of  his  machine,  and  died 
a  few  days  later.  A1  Lake  entered 
the  service  as  fireman  for  the  old 
road  in  February,  1881  and  went  to 
running  in  1888.  He  was  highly  re¬ 
spected  by  a  large  circle  of  friends, 
not  only  in  railroad  circles,  but  i«n 
his  home  city,  Concord,  and  all  the 
towns  along  the  line  through  which 
he  had  run  for  the  many  years. 


Henry  Corliss,  an  old  engineer,  is 
now  running  a  picture  house  at 
North  Woodstock. 


been  mentioned,  began  firing  in 
June,  1881  and  got  an  engine  to  ru*u 
in  February,  1887.  He  never  did 
much  running  for  the  B.,  C.  &  M.,  but 
is  considered  one  of  the  good  and 
faithful  men  of  the  old  days. 


I  have  been  trying  to  get  in 
touch  with  Henry  Simpson,  an  old- 
time  B.,  C.  &  >M.  man  who  was  well 
known  up  and  down  the  line  40  and 
45  years  ago.  He  went  out  west  and 
the  last  I  knew  was  at  Omaha,  Neb. 
Ed  Buckley  was  another  B.,  C.  &  >M. 
fireman,  and  later  became  an  engin¬ 
eer.  Just  where  he  went  I  am  not 
certain. 


FATHER  AND  SON 

Sylvester  Swett,  one  of  the  men  who  sawed  wood  for  the  road  forty  years  and  more  ago. 
Andrew  Swett,  his  son,  a  present  day  through  feight  conductor  who  learned  railroading  about 
that  time. 


105 

As  late  as  1S57  the  company  had  these  regulations,  or  who  is  not  dis- 


ro  engine  house  at  Concord.  It  al¬ 
ways  had  been  accommodated  with 
rcom  for  its  engines  in  the  engine 
house  of  the  Northern  Road,  for 
which  a  rent  of  $400  per  year  was 
paid.  A  record  made  by  the  super¬ 
intendent  at  that  time  was  to  the 
effect  that,  so  long  as  such  an  ac¬ 
commodation  is  continued  an  engine 
Louse  would  not  be  needed;  but 
should  the  wants  of  the  Northern 
Railroad  at  any  time  render  it 
necessary  to  discontinue  the  use  of 
their  house  by  this  road,  a  new 
building  for  that  purpose  would  be 
necessary.  He  further  stated  that 
the  company  owned  land  on  which 
it  could  be  built  whenever  necessary 
and  the  cost  of  a  proper  building 
with  suitable  fixtures,  he  estimated 
at  less  than  $4,750.  The  fire  at 
Lake  Village  shops  about  this  time 
badly  damaged  four  locomotives 
which  were  in  the  buildings.  There 
was  an  insurance  on  the  locomo¬ 
tives  amounting  to  $9,056.33  while 
the  loss  was  $11,600.00,  leaving  the 
actual  loss  $2,543.67. 


The  Blue  Book. 

Present  day  railroad  men  don’t 
know  what  it  was.  A  copy  of  this 
book  lies  before  me  on  my  desk.  It 
is  a  book  of  Regulations  of  the  Bos¬ 
ton,  Concord  &  Montreal  Railroad, 
in  force  o,n  and  after  Monday,  the  3d 
day  of  April,  1854,  65  years  ago.  It 
is  printed  on  blue  linen  paper  with 
stiff  board  covers.  A  notice  at  the 
bottom  of  the  title  page  says:  Each 
person  employed  on  the  road,  (ex¬ 
cept  laborers  on  the  wood  and  gravel 
trains,)  is  required  to  have  a  copy 
of  these  regulations  with  him  at  all 
times.  The  book  of  rules  contains 
the  duties  of  every  employee  of  the 
road  from  superintendent  down. 

Rule  3  in  the  General  Rules  reads: 
Every  person  in  the  employment  of 
the  Company  who  disapproves  of 


posed  to  aid  in  carrying  out  each  and 
all  of  them  effectually  is  requested 
not  to  remain  in  the  service  of  the 
Company. 

Rule  11.  Rudeness  or  incivility  to 
passengers  will  be  followed  by  the 
immediate  dismissal  of  the  offender 
from  employment;  as  also  for  any 
profane,  indecent,  or  abusive  lan¬ 
guage  used  in  or  about  the  cars  or 
stations. 

Rule  13.  No  smoking  must  be  al¬ 
lowed  in  or  around  the  engine  or  car 
houses,  or  freight  depots  of  the  Cor¬ 
poration,  nor  in  the  rooms  of  any 
passenger  station,  or  in  any  passen¬ 
ger  car;  nor  must  passengers  be  per¬ 
mitted  to  stand  on  the  platforms 
while  the  cars  are  in  motion. 

Rule  16.  No  person  known  to  be 
in  the  habit  of  using  ardent  spirits 
or  violent  or  abusive  language  will 
be  retained  in  the  employment  of  the 
Company. 

Rule  22  of  the  Motive  Power  De¬ 
partment  says:  No  engine  must  ibe 
sent  out  of  the  engine  house  or  shops 
for  the  employment  on  the  road,  un¬ 
less  the  time  table  then  in  force,  is 
furnished  to  the  engineer,  and  in¬ 
structions  in  writing  from  the  su¬ 
perintendent  of  motive  power  to  the 
engineer,  for  his  guidance,  and  the 
engineer  shall  give  a  written  receipt 
for  the  same,  on  a  copy  which  shall 
be  retained  by  the  superintendent  of 
motive  power. 

Rule  36  to  Section  Men  says: 
Each  section  must  be  kept  in  com¬ 
plete  running  order  by  the  men  em¬ 
ployed  upon  it;  and  every  part  of  it 
MUST  be  inspected  daily,  before  the 
first  train  of  cars  passes  over  it. 

Rule  50  to  Station  Agents  I  notice 
says  in  part:  It  will  be  the  duty  of 
each  Station  Agent  to  see  that  no 
cars  leave  his  station,  unless  they 
are  properly  swept  and  cleaned  out, 
and  washed  out  in  all  cases  when 
they  cannot  be  sufficiently  cleaned 
by  sweeping. 


106 


■Rule  54  in  part  was:  Each.  Station 
Agent  must  return  at  the  close  of 
each  month  by  the  Conductor  of  the 
passenger  trains,  to  the  Master  of 
Transportation’s  office,  the  money  re¬ 
ceived  for  freight  during  the  month. 

Rule  5S.  Passengers  are  not  al¬ 
lowed  to  ride  on  the  freight  trains  of 
the  road,  and  Station  Agents  will  not 
permit  any  person  to  get  upon  freight 
trayrs  at  the  stations,  except  in  the 
following  cases  when  freight  Passes 
may  be  sold  at  regular  fares,  viz: 
Station  Agents  may  sell  freight  Pass¬ 
es,  at  regular  fares,  to  the  following 
persons,  and  to  no  others,  viz, — to 
persons  actually  engaged  in  getting 
out  freight  to  go  over  the  road;  to 
physicians  in  attendance  on  sick  per¬ 
sons;  to  the  sheriffs  of  Merrimack, 
Belknap  a^d  Grafton  counties.  Each 
ticket  must  be  marked  with  the 
amount  received  therefor. 

Rule  72  to  Engineers.  The  Engin¬ 
eer  must  not  start  his  train  until  he 
has  the  signal  -from  the  Conductor, 
nor  until  the  bell  has  been  first  rujug. 

Rule  77.  Although  the  Conductor 
has  charge  of  the  train,  the  Engineer 
will  be  held  responsible  for  running 
at  any  unnecessary  risk,  or  without 
taking  all  prescribed  precautions; 
and  for  violations  of  the  rules  of  the 
road,  even  if  the  same  are  ordered 
by  the  Conductor. 

Rule  79.  When  a  Conductor  is  dis¬ 
abled,  the  Engineer  will  be  held  re¬ 
sponsible  for  the  safety  of  the  train 
until  a  person  duly  authorized  catn 
take  charge  of  it. 

Rule  80.  Engineers  will  be  care¬ 
ful  not  to  approach  stopping  places, 
or  signals,  at  a  rate  of  speed  that  will 
require  them  to  whistle  for  the 
brakes.  It  is  desirable  that  the  sig¬ 
nal  whistle  should  be  used  as  seldom 
as  possible  except  for  obstructions 
on  the  track,  as  too  frequent  use  im¬ 
pairs  its  value  as  a  signal  of  danger. 

Rule  84.  Conductors  will  notify 
Station  Agents  of  the  following 
trains,  when  his  engine  carries  a 


flag;  will  check  the  Engineer  if  run¬ 
ning  too  fast,  and  will  require  him  to 
conform  his  running  to  the  time  table 
or  slower  if  the  track  requires  dimin¬ 
ished  speed. 

Rule  95.  The  Conductor  of  the  Up 
Mail  Train  must  compare  and  report 
the  correct  time  to  all  Station  Agents 
daily. 

The  time  kept  in  the  Coficord  Rail¬ 
road  Passenger  Depot  was  the  stan¬ 
dard  time,  which  the  conductors  and 
engineers  must  observe  daily. 

Rule  102,  as  to  Running  of  Trains: 
Conductors  of  'Freight  Trains  must 
not  allow  the  train  at  -any  time  to 
stand  upon  public  road- crossings,  so 
as  to  prevent  free  passage  to  travel¬ 
ers,  not  under  any  circumstances, 
more  than  five  minutes  at  any  one 
time,  as  per  law  of  the  State. 

Rule  104.  No  train  must  be  run  in 
the  dark  without  a  good  light  on  the 
front  of  the  engyie. 

Rule  109.  No  following  train  will 
oe  allowed  to  leave  or  pass  any  pas¬ 
senger  station  nearer  than  15 
minutes  of  the  preceding  train.  Con¬ 
ductors  and  engineers  will  be  held 
equally  responsible  to  observe  the 
15  myiute  rule. 

Rule  111.  Section  men  must  pass 
over  the  road  every  morning  before 
any  train,  and  in  case  of  violent 
rains,  must  be  stationed  at  danger¬ 
ous  points  at  the  time  trains  pass, 
whether  by  day  or  by  night. 

Rule  114.  No  engine  or  extra  trayi 
will  be  allowed  to  be  run  upon  the 
roa-d  without  order  of  Superintendent 
of  motive  power,  and  notice  being 
given  to  Station  and  Section  Men. 

Rule  128,  one  of  the  free  pass 
rules:  In  case  of  manifest  poverty 
or  inability  to  pay,  Conductors  can 
exercise  their  discretion  in  allowing  a 
pass  free. 


I  have  recently  had  sent  in  some 
very  interesting  pictures  of  old  Bos¬ 
ton,  Concord  &  Montreal  engines, 
tram  crews,  wrecks,  etc.  Most  of 


107 


these  pictures  were  made  30  or  40 
years  ago,  and  are  quite  badly  faded, 
so  much  that  it  would  be  impossible 
to  produce  them  in  these  pages.  One 
in  particular  is  the  B.,  C.  &  iM.  en¬ 
gine  IMt.  Washington.  The  “Mount” 
as  she  was  known  was  the  first  ten 
wheel  locomotive  ever  in  New  Eng¬ 
land  and  was  a  wonder  of  her  day. 
She  was  numbered  29.  In  the 
group  is  shown  the  trai*n  crew:  Geo. 
(Ferguson,  engineer;  Fred  Whiting, 
fireman;  Joe  Prescott,  conductor; 
Harvey  Dexter,  brakeman.  The  pic¬ 
ture  was  made  at  the  Base  of  Mt. 
Washington  the  first  summer  the 
road  was  opened. 


■Another  picture  is  the  'Littleton, 
No.  11  standing  in  Woodsville  yard 
showing  Mt.  Gardner  in  the  back¬ 
ground.  Her  tender  is  piled  high 
with  wood  which  would  be  sufficient 
to  last  the  average  family  six  months. 
Another  picture  is  of  the  first  passen¬ 
ger  train  to  the  Base  of  Mt.  Wash¬ 
ington,  taken  in  front  of  the  Fabyan 
House.  Then  next  is  a  three-car 
passenger  train  ready  to  leave 
Fabyans.  Attached  to  the  train 
is  the  Winnipesaukee,  No.  7,  with 
Jolyi  Boynton,  engineer  and  Fred 
Whiting  fireman.  This  picture  was 
made  about  40  years  ago. 


Two  other  interesting  pictures  are 
taken  on  Wells  River  bridge;  one  of 
a  three  car  train  taken  47  years  ago, 
and  another  of  the  Canadian  Pacific 
express  of  the  present  day.  The  old 
locomotive  in  the  picture  is  the  Peter 
Clark. 

Another  photograph  is  a  one-car 
train  on  the  Whitefield  &  Jefferson. 
This  road  later  came  yi  the  hands  of 
the  old  B.,  C  &  M.  The  engine  in 
this  picture  shows  the  Waumbek,  No. 
3,  made  34  years  ago.  There  was 
another  locomotive,  Star  King,  owned 
by  the  W.  &  J.  road.  This  engine 
blew  up  at  Belmont,  and  was  after¬ 
wards  renamed  the  Belmonte 


I  very  much  regret  that  a  picture 
of  the  old  Winnipeseogee,  No.  7,  is 
so  faded  as  to  be  useless  from  which 
to  make  a  plate  for  this  history. 
This  picture  was  sent  in  by  Frank 
Lougee  in  hopes  it  could  be  used. 
George  Hutchins  sends  a  picture  of 
two  engines  standing  on  Wells  River 
bridge  44  years  ago.  Frank  Lougee 
sent  an  old  picture  of  the  first  Peter 
Clark,  which  is  reproduced  here  and 
speaks  for  itself.  The  name  is  just 
beneath  the  stack  near  the  front  of 
the  boiler.  This  machine  is  one  of 
the  first  passenger  engines  the  road 
owned  and  in  her  day  was  a  marvel. 


One  of  the  last  engines  the  old 
road  bought  was  the  Haverhill.  The 
Concord  &  Montreal  sent  her  to  the 
shop  for  an  overhauling  and  she 
blew  up  on  her  trail  trip  in  Nashua 
yard.  Before  me  is  a  picture  of 
her  in  a  wrecked  condition.  The 
shell  is  about  half  demolished  from 
her  boiler,  the  stack  and  headlight 
gone  and  she  is  generally  broken  up. 
Engineer  Fred  Clifford  was  running 
her  at  the  time  of  the  explosion. 
He  was  quite  badly  injured  and  his 
hearing  impaired,  from  which  he 
never  fully  recovered.  His  fireman 
was  badly  scalded  and  jumped  into 
the  man-hole  in  the  tank  to  cool  his 
burns  ayid  relieve  his  excruciating 
pains. 


Lakeport,  N.  H.,  May  16,  1919. 
Mr.  Caswell : 

With  pleasure  I  give  you  some  of 
the  dates  regarding  Mr.  Ferguson 
while  employed  by  the  old  Boston, 
Concord  &  Montreal  and  later  the 
other  roads.  Mr.  Ferguson  went  to 
work  and  learned  the  machinist  trade 
and  did  spare  firing;  then  after  two 
years  ran  spare  as  engineer  for  a 
while,  after  which  he  went  to  the 
Fabyans  and  run  the  engine  between 
Fabyans  and  the  Base  of  Mt.  Washing¬ 
ton  for  three  successive  summers,  and 
the  fourth  year  he  ban  the  engine  to 


108 

the  Base  and  as  conductor  up  the  of  a  building  in  Pemberton  Square, 


mountain  if  I  remember  correctly  four 
summers ;  after  which  he  was  ap- 


GEO.  A.  FERGUSON 


pointed  assistant  Master  Mechanic  of 
the  B.,  C.  &  M.  in  April,  1881.  Ap¬ 
pointed  Master  Mechanic  of  the  White 
Mountain  Division  of  the  B.  &  L., 
Sept.  1884;  C.  &  M.,  June  1,  1889. 

After  the  Boston  &  Maine  leased  the 
B.,  C.  &  M.  he  was  transferred  to 
Springfield,  Mass.  After  six  months 
he  resigned  to  accept  a  position  as 
foreman  on  the  New  York  Central, 
with  headquarters  at  Depew,  N.  Y. 
After  four  years  he  was  transferred 
to  Boston,  as  foreman  of  four  engine 
houses. 

After  a  few  years  he  resigned  on 
account  of  poor  health.  He  later  ac¬ 
cepted  the  position  as  superintendent 


Boston.  After  four  years  there,  he 
moved  to  Lakeport,  and  lived  the  short 
time  of  one  year  and  two  months, 
passing  away  June  11,  1916.  I  hope 
this  will  be  of  some  help  to  you.  It  is 
all  I  can  remember. 

Mrs.  Geo.  A.  Ferguson. 


Bob  Carr  of  Andover  succeeded 
Mr.  Cummings  as  wood  agent  for  a 
few  years  and  up  to  the  changing 
from  wood  to  coal. 


Several  who  worked  for  the  old 
road  and  have  not  come  in  for  men¬ 
tion  up  to  this  time  were  F.  E.  Hay¬ 
ward,  telegraph  operator,  (now  at 
Laconia) ;  Eid  Buckley,  fireman  and 
later  engineer;  John  Colhy,  fireman; 
Ernest  Little,  now  third  trick  opera¬ 
tor  at  Laconia;  Ed  Large,  through 
freight  conductor  at  the  present  day; 
Frank  Keysar,  a.  present  day  passen¬ 
ger  conductor.  Keysar  has  repre¬ 
sented  the  town  of  Haverhill  several 
sessions  in  the  legislature  and  one 
term  in  the  senate;  Charles  I.  Swain, 
who  started  handling  wood  for  the 
old  locomotives  and  is  now  station 
agent  at  Meredith.  Then  there  was 
George  Billings,  who  was  agent  at 
Haverhill  and  later  Rumney;  Henry 
Herbert,  15  years  agent  at  Rumney; 
Victor  Heath,  an  old  time  freight 
conductor;  Charles  Whitney,  fireman 
in  the  80s;  Clarence  Caswell,  tele¬ 
graph  operator. 


There  was  one  jolly  old  time  pas¬ 
senger  conductor  who  always  had  a 
pleasant  word  and  cheerful  smile  for 
everybody;  and  was  unusually  suc¬ 
cessful  in  quieting  “ugly  men”  on 
the  train  This  saintly  old  knight  of 
the  punch  should  have  been  a  sister 
of  charity  or  (Salvation  Army  worker 
rather  than  in  the  vocation  he  fol¬ 
lowed  for  so  many  years.  There  was 
one  man  living  at  Meredith  Village 
who  used  to  go  down  to  Meredith 
Bridge  (Laconia)  every  few  days  and 


109 


get  drunk  on  purpose  to  kick  up  a 
row  on  the  train  going  up.  fie  had 
cleaned  out  several  of  the  conductors 
£*nd  this  night  the  saintly  old  con¬ 
ductor  saw  him  and  knew  he  was  in 
for  a  row.  In  telling  of  the  circum¬ 
stance  the  conductor  said,  “Hie  looked 
as  though  he  had  a  hot  box  when  he 
saw  me  coming  in  the  door  and 
grated  his  teeth.  (He  was  full,  boil¬ 
ing  over,  and  expected  to  fight  all  the 
way  to  'Meredith  Village,  where  he 
lived,  and  get  off  without  paying.  I 
went  up  to  him  and  sat  down  beside 
him,  and  asked  him  if  he  had  a  good 
time  today,  and  thep.  I  pulled  out 
some  picture  cards  that  I  got  in 
a  store,  and  I  said,  'Here,  Pat,  take 
these  pictures  to  your  little  girl  at 
home,  and  tell  her,  as  she  meets  you 
at  the  door,  and  throws  her  arms 
around  your  neck,  and  kisses  you,  and 
says  she  is  glad  you  came  home  sober, 
and  that  she  loves  you,  and  that  you 
are  the  dearest  papa  in  the  world,  tell 
her  that  I  sent  them  to  her,  with  a 
kiss/  Well,  you  wouldn’t  believe  it, 
but  before  I  got  half  through  talking 
about  his  little  girl,  the  big  tears 
came  to  his  eyes,  and  rolled  down  his 
red  face,  and  he  took  them  and 
thanked  me  in  a  choking  voice,  and 
said  as  he  pulled  out  a  five  dollar  bill, 
‘Take  my  fare  out  of  this,  and  God 
bless  you.’  I’ll  bet  that  rough  fel¬ 
low’s  heart  was  touched,  because 
when  he  got  off  he  was  sober,  and 
was  wiping  his  eyes  on  his  coat 
sleeve,  and  he  pointed  right  straight 
for  home.  Oh,  a  man  can  get  in  his 
Christian  work  on  a  railroad  train  if 
he  wants  to.”  This  good  old  con¬ 
ductor  has  long  since  passed  to  his 
reward  and  his  works  do  follow  him. 

A  story  is  told  of  a  fellow  at  Mere¬ 
dith  Bridge  back  ip  the  60’s,  going  to 
the  station  and  enquiring  the  fare  to 
Littleton  “Three  dollars,”  replied 
the  station  agent. 

“An’  what  d’ye  charge  for  a  pig  or 
cow?” 


“Two  dollars  for  a  pig,  and  six  dol¬ 
lars  for  a  cow.” 

“Well,”  directed  the  fellow,  “book 
me  as  a  pig.” 

One  summer  afternoon  albout  3'7 
years  ago,  a  way  freight  was  sliding 
down  the  hill  between  Warren  Sum¬ 
mit  and  East  Haverhilil  and  went  into 
a  drove  of  cattle  which  had  gotten 
out  of  a  pasture  and  opto  the  track. 
Five  oxen  were  killed.  The  animals 
were  not  badly  braised  so  but  what 
most  of  the  meat  was  dressed  and 
sent  to  market.  I  remember  helping 
dress  the  cretaures,  and  coming 
home  at  11  o’clock  at  night  on  a  hand 
car.  The  old  Moosilauke  was  on  the 
freight  that  afternoon. 


Speaking  of  cattle  being  killed  by 
trains  brings  to  mind  what  someope 
wrote,  as  I  have  heard  said,  on  the 
door  of  a  “buggy.” 

No  words  were  spoken  when  they 
met, 

By  either — sad  or  gay; 

And  yet  one  badly  smitten  was, 
’Twas  mentioned  the  next  day. 
They  met  by  chance  this  autumn  eve, 
With  neither  glance  nor  bow; 
They  often  come  together  so — 

A  freight  train  and  a  cow. 

Warren,  N.  H.,  May  16,  1919. 
My  dear  Caswell : 

For  almost  twenty  years  my  father, 
Obediali  G.  Smith  sawed  wood  for  the 
old  B.,  C.  &  M.  His  first  job  was  at 
Plymouth  where  he  lived  at  the  time. 
The  company  had  a  hundred  cords  of 
wood  landed  in  front  of  the  Pemige- 
wasset  House  which  he  sawed  with 
an  old  tread  horse  power.  He  did 
the  work  so  quickly  and  satisfactorily 
that  Mr.  Dodge  soon  after  sent  for 
him  to  come  to  his  office,  and  asked  if 
he  would  like  the  contract  to  saw  all 
the  wood  for  the  road.  Father  being 
but  a  lad  and  just  starting  out  in  life 
jumped  at  the  chance.  Road  carpen¬ 
ters  took  an  old  box  car,  fitted  some 


110 


windows  in  the  sides,  some  bunks  and 
a  stove  were  placed  in  it,  and  a  few 
days  later  my  father  loaded  his  old 
tread  mill  and  two  “skates,”  along 
with  some  camp  duffle  and  securing 
some  boys  from  the  town  they  left 
Plymouth  one  morning  attached  to  the 
way  freight.  The  natives  remarked, 
“there  goes  Smith’s  menagerie.”  The 
crew  lived  in  the  car  on  sidings  at 
various  woodsheds  and  sawed  wood 
under  difficulties ;  finally  two  more 
better  horses  were  bought,  and  as  cold 
weather  came  on  other  cars  were 
added.  A  Grey  horse  power  was  another 
purchase  and  he  began  to  prosper. 
In  a  year  or  so  the  old  horse  power 
was  discarded  for  a  hot  air  compres¬ 
sion  engine ;  the  exhaust  could  be 
heard  two  miles  away,  the  boiler  being1 
scarcely  larger  than  a  barrel  with  a 
six  foot  balance  wheel.  Later  the 
Baxter  engine  took  the  place  of  this 
contraption.  For  almost  twenty 
years  my  father  kept  up  this  pace, 
helping  to  develop  this  section  of  the 
state  in  the  way  he  did.  The  road 
furnished  him  several  boarding  cars, 
which  I  can  remember  were  painted 
light  green  with  gold  letters  a  foot 
high  running  the  entire  length  of  the 
sides,  reading,  O.  G.  Smith’s  Board¬ 
ing-  Car.  The  family  or  living  car 
was  fitted  out  with  conveniences  of 
home  life,  and  the  cars  were  moved 
from  one  town  to  another  and  the 
family  or  “crew”  (there  were  three 
crews)  made  many  pleasant  friends  in 
the  varius  neighborhoods  from  Con¬ 
cord  to  Groveton.  I  was  a  little  boy 
along  the  last  of  the  wood-sawing 
days,  and  you  can  imagine  what  such 
a  life  (on  the  rail)  of  enjoyment  or 
novelty  meant  to  a  boy.  I  would 
only  like  to  live  the  days  over  again. 

Sincerely, 

Geo.  E.  Smith 


The  section  men  of  early  times 
were  furnished  with  hand-cars,  or 
belt-cars.  This  was  a  small  con¬ 


traption  about  four  foot  square  hav¬ 
ing  12  inch  wheels,  propelled  by  two 
large  cranks  which  turned  a  30  inch 
pulley  over  which  run  a  6  inch  leath¬ 
er  or  rubber  belt  down  -to  an  8 
inch  pulley  on  one  of  the  axles  be¬ 
neath  the  car.  Later  a  heavy  hand¬ 
car  was  adopted  with  30  inch  wheels, 
a  seat  across  each  end  on  which  four 
or  six  men  could  ride  down  the  hills 
and  the  cars  were  propelled  up  the 
hills  by  four  men.  This  car  weighed 
about  half  a  ton,  and  was  propelled 
by  gears,  a  large  gear  wheel  mesh¬ 
ing  into  a  smaller  gear  on  one  of 
the  axles.  There  was  a  “bonnet”  or 
“hood”  over  the  gears.  The  cranks 
had  about  a  four  foot  sweep.  'These 
cars  were  painted  bright  red. 

Up  to  sometime  in  the  early  80’s 
whenever  a  corpse  was  transported 
on  a  train  the  casket  or  box  had  to 
be  placed  on  the  platform  of  the  bag¬ 
gage  car;  a  corpse  was  not  allowed 
in  the  car.  Mr.  Lougee  tells  in  a 
letter  elsewhere  of  a  casket  being 
roughly  handled  at  the  time  of  the 
Sewell’s  Falls  wreck  in  1878. 


Here  is  a  seniority  list  of  engineers 
who  were  working  in  January,  1908, 
who  started  firing  for  the  old  road 
which  was  taken  over  by  the  Boston 
&  Lowell  in  1884,  showing  when 
they  were  promoted  to  engineers,  as 
well  as  the  year  in  which  they  started 
firing.  Most  of  them  were  employed 
by  the  railroad  previous  to  the  time 
when  they  started  firing. 

First  date,  entered  service  as  fire¬ 
man;  second  date,  promotion. 

W>m.  R.  Kimball,  Jan.  1865,  May  1869. 
O.  D.  Bailey,  Apr.  1868,  Oct  1871. 

F.  A.  Clifford,  Apr.  1869,  June  1872. 

F.  H.  Burleigh,  June  1871,  June  1874. 

G.  E.  QHDutchins,  June  1866,  Sept.  1874. 
Milo  H.  Annis,  June  1872,  Apr.  1876. 
James  Badger,  /1870,  June  1878. 

F.  S.  Whiting,  May  1872,  Aug.  1879. 

J.  /H.  Lawler,  June  1874,  Aug.  1880. 

G.  D.  Pebbles,  July  1876,  Aug.  1880. 
J.  W.  Buckley,  'Sept.  1879,  Feb.  1882. 


Ill 


C.  L.  Cummings,  July  1876,  June  1882. 
J.  K.  Corliss,  Oct.  1879,  July  1883. 

G.  H.  Tewfeslbury,  Dec.  1880,  Fe!b». 
1885. 

Edw.  F.  (Ho it,  Jan.  1881,  'Feb.  1885. 

H.  G.  Corliss,  Feb.  1881,  Aug.  1880. 

F.  C.  Gale,  June  1882,  Oct.  1886. 
Edward  Bowler,  July  1882,  Feb.  1887. 

E.  F.  Lake,  Feb.  1880,  Apr.  1887. 

F.  E.  Sargent,  Aug.  1880,  June  1887. 

A.  G.  Webster,  Apr.  1882,  June  1887. 
A.  J.  Pike,  June  1882,  June  1887. 

A.  P.  Lake,  Feb.  1881,  Jan.  1888. 
Elmer  Cross,  Apr.  1883,  Feb.  1888. 

J.  A.  Harris,  May  1883,  Feb.  1888. 
Edw.  M.  Buckley,  Oct.  1884,  Feb.  1888. 
F.  C.  Danforth,  June  1884,  June  1889. 
J.  E.  Burkett,  Sept.  1880,  June  1889. 
Geo.  M.  Spaulding,  June  1884,  May 
1890. 


Fred  Ma4nn  of  WoodsvUle  has  been 
very  kind  in  loaning  me  some  pic¬ 
tures  of  tbe  wreck  at  Fogg’s  hill  in 
1882,  a  write-up  of  which  appears 
elsewhere.  It  is  regretted  too,  that 
these  pictures  are  faded,  therefore 
will  not  be  used  in  this  article. 


Friend  Caswell: 

With  your  permission  I  would  like 
to  add  a  few  words  to  what  is  being 
said  about  old  times  on  the  Boston, 
Concord  &  Montreal.  To  start  with 
I  would  say  when  my  mother  was  a 
young  lady  she  used  to  work  at  the 
old  Pemigewasset  House,  Plymouth. 
Benjamin  Brown,  my  grandfather,  lived 
where  Mr.  Wright  now  lives,  just 
south  of  Rumney  railroad  yard.  At 
that  time  there  boarded  at  the  old 
“Pemmy,”  such  railroad  men  as  Seth 
Greenleaf,  a  passenger  conductor,  Ike 
Sanborn,  an  engineer.  One  of  the 
Irish  girls  who  worked  there  with  my 
mother  used  to  say  to  Ike  Sanborn, 
“Isaac,  will  you  tak  you  machine  and 
carry  us  girls  up  to  Mr.  Brewn’s?” 
which  he  often  used  to  do.  There 


were  many  other  interesting  circum¬ 
stances  and  anecdotes  I  have  heard 
my  mother  tell  of  which  would  be  in¬ 
teresting  if  I  could  rcall  them. 

Speaking  of  that  Christian  man, 
Uncle  John  Marsh  who  used  to  run  a 
gravel  train  from  West  Rumney 
gravel  pit  in  the  fall  of  1881  which 
was  39  years  ago.  I  remember  it, 
because  it  was  that  year  my  father 
died,  and  I  was  working  for  Uncle 
John  on  the  gravel  train.  We  young¬ 
sters  in  those  days  always  called  him 
“Uncle  John.”  Often  when  we  were 
sidetracked  waiting  for  some  train  to 
pass  Uncle  John  would  gather  the 
boys  one  side  on  the  grass  and  ex¬ 
pound  the  scriptures  to  us ;  and  I 
want  to  tell  you  it  did  a  lots  of  us 
lasting  good.  One  day  in  particular 
I  remerber  of  his  telling  us  of  his 
faith  in  the  keeping  power  of  God. 
Near  as  I  can  remember  it  one  day 
Uncle  John  was  taking  a  heavy  freight 
out  of  Concord.  The  rails  were  wet 
as  it  was  during  a  heavy  rain,  and 
when  the  train  got  to  Plymouth  or 
Lake  Village,  I  don’t  just  remember 
which  they  hooked  on  another  engine 
to  help  the  train  over  Warren  Summit. 
When  they  hitched  up  someone  told 
the  engineer  of  the  helper  that  he  nev¬ 
er  would  run  that  train  up  Warren 
Summit.  He  replied,  “I  will  run  it 
up  the  hill  or  run  it  to  Hell.”  Uncle 
John  heard  him  and  felt  sorry  for  a 
person  who  would  use  such  language. 
He  climbed  into  the  cab  and  before 
the  fire  box  door  knelt  and  prayed  to 
God  to  take  care  of  him  if  anything 
happened  or  went  wrong  with  the 
train,  and  to  keep  him  from  accident 
and  spare  his  life.  Soon  the  train 
proceeded  on  its  way.  A  few  miles 
north  it  encountered  water  on  the 
track  in  a  number  of  places,  and  still 
a  few  miles  farther  on  the  roadbed 
was  soft  from  the  heavy  rains,  but 
when  the  train  got  almost  to  Went¬ 
worth  depot  both  engines  went  off  the 
track  into  the  water.  The  train  crew 


112 


saved  their  lives  by  jumping.  Uncle 
John  was  last  to  leave  his  post  of 
duty  and  jumped  into  mid-air  from 
the  gangway  of  his  engine  almost  the 
instant  she  pitched  over  in  a  mass  of 
wreckage.  The  current  was  so 
swift  his  body  was  sucked  under  the 
wreckage,  passing  under  the  track  to 
the  opposite  side,  carried  on  quite  a 


W.  F.  TRUE 

Nearly  Forty  Years  Station  Agent  at 
East  Haverhill 

ways  down  the  stream  where  he 
grasped  some  alder  bushes  and  pulled 
himself  to  safety.  He  then  and 
there  thanked  the  Lord  for  a  safe  de¬ 
liverance  from  a  watery  grave.  This 
incident  I  can  remember  made  an  im¬ 
pression  on  we  boys. 

I  remember  a  circumstance  of  that 
same  summer  when  we  were  carrying 


gravel  from  the  West  Rurnney  pit  to  a 
fill  at  the  end  of  Jarve  Sanborn’s  side 
track  at  Loon  Pond.  There  was  a 
decline  from  the  main  line  and  a  little 
farther  on  up  the  siding  an  incline. 
We  were  going  in  with  a  trainload  of 
grade  and  the  engineer  could  not  get 
over  the  bunch.  After  trying  a  num¬ 
ber  of  times  without  any  success, 
Uncle  John  came  over  the  train  and 
asked  if  he  might  take  the  throttle, 
wlieih  he  was  permitted  to  do.  He 
backed  the  train  down  to  the  main 
line  and  told  us  boys  to  stand  by  the 
brakes  and  when  he  whistled  to  put 
them  up  quick  and  hard.  The  train 
started  and  Uncle  John  put  the  outfit 
up  over  towards  Loon  Lake  like  a  vet¬ 
eran.  The  whistle  sounded  and  we 
boys  did  the  rest.  Uncle  John  cer¬ 
tainly  was  a  good  man. 

Respectfully, 

John  O.  Rollins. 

Wentworth,  N.  H.,  May  20,  1919. 

Concord,  N.  H., 

May  IS,  1919. 

Friend  Caswell : 

Well  do  I  remember  the  engines  mi 
the  old  B.  C.  &  M.  and  could  tell  many 
by  the  the  sound  of  the  whistle,  and 
the  men  that  ran  them  by  the  way 
that  they  sounded  the  whistle.  I  see 
that  you  speak  of  Uncle  John  Marsh 
on  one  engine  at  the  washout  at  Went¬ 
worth.  Mr.  Bailey  was  the  engineer  on 
the  second  engine  and  when  asked 
what  he  was  doing  when  he  went  into 
the  washout,  he  answered  that  he  was 
looking  out  for  Bailey’s  big  ears.  In 
regard  to  section  foremen,  Josiah 
Hardy  went  to  work  on  the  East 
Concord  section  and  after  working 
about  a  year  was  promoted  to  foreman 
and  Uncle  John  Marsh  worked  for  him. 
Then  Mr.  Hardy  was  sent  up  to  Ash¬ 
land  section  and  Mr.  Marsh  had  the 
East  Concord  section.  After  a  time.  Mr. 
Hardy  was  taken  from  the  Ashland 
section  to  Haverhill  and  from  the  Ha¬ 
verhill  section  toNorth  Haverhill  sec¬ 
tion,  or  Blackmount  as  now  called. 


113 


When  I  was  a  boy  he  had  A.  Bowen 
as  second  hand,  and  a  man  by  the 
name  of  Wetherbee  as  third  hand.  Ezra 
Witherby  of  North  Haverhill  worked 
one  or  two  summers  and  Arthur  Carr 
now  a  conductor  on  the  B.  &  M.  work¬ 
ed  one  summer.  What  would  the  sec¬ 
tion  think  today  if  they  had  to  get  up 
at  midnight  and  walk  from  Black- 
mount  to  Woodsville  before  the  first 
train  south  out  of  Woodsville  as  they 
did  then?  I  well  remember  the 
wreck  at  North  Haverhill  38  years  ago. 
That  morning  was  father’s  turn  over 
the  road  and  he  came  back  from 
Woodsville  on  the  way  freight  and  I 
was  up  and  most  over  to  the  depot  to 
meet  him.  I  saw  by  the  paper  that 
Mr.  Stone  and  his  brakeman  were 
both  killed  but  the  brakeman  was  only 
badly  hurt  and  is  still  living,  for  I 
was  talking  with  him  only  a  few  years 
ago  at  Lakeport.  Mr.  Hardy  worked 
for  the  old  B.  C.  &  M.  CO  years,  then 
retired  and  went  to  farming  but  has 
since  passed  on.  A.  Bowen,  his  sec¬ 
ond  hand  went  barefooted  summers 
with  a  piece  of  sole  leather  fastened 
on  his  right  foot  to  use  on  a  shovel. 

Yours  truly, 

Charles  E.  Hardy, 

42  Beacon  Street,  Concord,  N.  H. 


Tilton,  N.  H. 

Friend  Caswell: 

To  one  who  has  not  seen  and  fol¬ 
lowed  the  improvements  on  a  locomo¬ 
tive  for  the  past  50  years  one  could 
hardly  believe  it  possible  and  to 
many  of  the  present  day  the  stories 
of  the  old  days  of  railroading  will 
read  like  fairy  tales. 

The  word  locomotive  was  seldom 
used  40  or  50  years  ago  and  they  were 
known  simply  as  an  engine.  Inspira- 
tators,  injectors,  air  brakes,  Miller 
Hooks,  automatic  couplers  and  many 
other  things'  were  unknown ;  despatch- 
ers  were  also  unknown.  The  engines 
were  equipped  with  two  plunger  pumps, 
one  on  each  side,  the  plunger  being 
connected  with  cross  head  by 


what  was  known  as  a  yoke  and  it  was 
only  possible  to  put  water  into  the 
boiler  when  the  engine  was  moving. 
When  running,  the  flow  of  water  was 
gauged  by  a  valve  in  the  bottom  of  the 
tank  controlled  by  a  handle  on  top  of 
the  tank.  After  the  engineer  got  used 
to  the  ways  of  the  engine  he  would 
put  one  or  more  prick  punch  marks 
on  the  rod  and  after  that  always  set 
it  on  one  of  those  marks  and  vary  it 
according  to  the  forking  of  the  engine. 
There  was  what  was  called  a  “pet 
cock”  which  was  screwed  into  the 
pumps  above  the  top  valves,  this  was 
used  to  let  the  air  out  when  the  pump 
was  started  and  also  to  see  if  pump 
was  working  good.  Incidentally  it 
was  often  used  to  wet  us  boys  with  if 
we  got  too  close  tto  the  track.  iDater 
came  the  “lazy  cock”  which  every 
man  thought  (and  it  was)  a  great  im¬ 
provement  and  were  anxious  to  have 
it.  This  consisted  of  a  valve  brazed 
to  the  end  of  the  supply  pipe  and 
connected  by  a  rod  on  to  a  quadrant 
attached  tc  the  boiler  butt  with  a 
handle  which  the  driver  could  handle 
without  getting  off  the  seat.  At  the 
time  I  commenced  glass  water  gauges 
were  unknown,  and  we  had  to  run  by 
the  gauge  cocks ;  there  were  four  of 
those,  and  the  rule  wua  to  pump  so  as 
to  have  enough  water  in  the  boiler 
so  it  would  just  show  in  the  top 
gauge ;  this  could  not  always  be  done, 
especially  if  the  engine  was  steaming 
hard;  in  that  case  you  Lad  to  “baby” 
her  and  many  times  close  the  valve 
and  run  the  water  as  low  as  possible 
in  order  to  have  steam  to  make  the 
hill.  After  making  the  hill  open  the 
valve  wide  and  pump  all  the  way 
down  the  hill.  When  we  were  to 
meet  another  train  at  some  station  we  ; 
always  planned  to  have  the  boiler  as 
full  as  possible  before  setting  off  as 
there  was  no  knowing  how  long  we 
would  have  to  wait  and  there  was  no 
way  of  puttng  water  into  boiler  after 
the  engine  stopped.  The  first  injector 
we  had  was  the  “Mack,”  then  carnet 


114 


the  Hancock  Inspirator,  but  it  was 
some  yeais  before  the  old  engines 
were  all  equipped  with  them  and  the 
old  pumps  were  done  away  with.  Usual¬ 
ly  they  would  ^ve  one  pump  on  the 
left  side;  the  injector  on  the  right. 
There  was  no  shutting  the  cylinder 
cocks  from  the  cab  as  now ;  after  the 
engine  had  run  slowly  two  or  three 
rods  the  fireman  would  drop  off  run 
forward,  close  them  on  one  side,  cross 
track  ahead  of  engine  and  close 
them  on  that  side  and  then  climb  on, 
and  we  were  off.  If  setting  on  siding 
for  any  length  of  time  they  were  always 
opened  and  closed  again  after  pulling 
out  on  main  line  and  always  when 
putting  engine  in  house. 

There  were  no  self  feeding  oil  cups 
on  steam  chests.  This  was  done  by 
the  fireman  taking  a  can,  going  out  on 
running  board  and  turning  a  lot  of  oil 
into  the  cups,  let  it  run  in  and  close 
cup,  pass  around  the  front  end,  oil 
that  side  and  back  into  cab ;  this  was 
done  about  every  20  miles  and  when 
coasting  down  the  hills  and  always  go¬ 
ing  into  a  terminal  station.  It 
was  some  ticklish  job  if  going  30  or 
more  miles  an  hour  and  more  es¬ 
pecially  in  the  winter  when  the  run¬ 
ning  board  was  covered  with  ice  and 
snow  and  the  wind  blowing  a  gale  and 
many  a  night  I  have  had  to  go  around 
the  front  end  on  my  hands  and  knees. 
Later  a  pipe  was  run  through  the 
hand  rail  cementing  with  a  pipe  into 
top  of  steam  chest  with  the  oil  cup  in 
the  cab.  This  was  sure  some  im¬ 
provement  and  the  danger  of  traveling 
outside  overcome. 

Then  came  the  Dreyfus  self-oiler. 
This  was  a  large  cup  placed  on  the 
steam  chest  and  would  hold  about  a 
quart  of  oil  and  would  run  about  a 
hundred  miles  with  one  filling.  Then 
came  the  lubricators  which  are  now 
in  use.  Firing  with  wood  in  the  old 
days  was  not  always  a  picnic  and 
there  was  hardly  a  man  but  what  had 
the  trade  mark  on  his  hands  and  some 
of  them  carried  it  to  their  graves. 


This  mark  was  on  the  fingers  and  was 
caused  by  catching  the  fingers  between 
the  end  of  a  stick  of  wood  and  the  fire 
box  door  and  badly  crushing  the  end 
of  the  finger.  Sometimes  they 

would  only  loose  the  nail  and  be  all 
right  in  a  short  time,  but  I  have 
known  of  instances  where  the  end  of 
a  finger  or  thumb  was  so  badly  crush¬ 
ed  it  had  to  be  amputated. 

With  good  wood  and  a  good  steamer 
it  was  a  pleasure  to  run,  but  with 
poor  wood  which  we  got  more  often 
than  good,  it  wTas  altogether  different 
and  we  had  to  figure  all  ways  to  make 
time,  and  at  that  often  had  to  wait  at 
stations  and  blow  up  steam  as  it  was 
called. 

I  well  remember  one  time  on  the 
mail  in  1876  of  sitting  at  Wentworth 
40  minutes  blowing  up.  We  had  a 
load  of  old  tires  out  of  Plymouth  and 
they  were  from  the  bottom  of  the  shed 
at  Bridgewater  and  were  full  of  wa¬ 
ter  ;  we  managed  to  get  to  Warren 
with  just  steam  enough  to  get  to  the 
wood  shed  and  got  enough  dry  wood 
to  get  over  the  hill.  George  Y. 
Moulton  was  conductor  and  no  doubt 
will  recall  the  time. 

Braking  by  hand  on  a  passenger 
train  and  making  good  stops  was  some 
stunt  with  3  or  4  cars.  The  baggage 
master  would  handle  the  baggage 
car  brake,  the  brakeman  the  two  rear 
brakes  the  engineer  would  always  shut 
off  steam  at  a  certain  point  and  then 
it  was  up  to  the  brakeman  to  do  the 
rest.  Baggage  master  would  set  his 
brake  fairly  well,  brakeman  would 
set  one  on  next  to  rear  car,  step  across 
to  the  other  one  and  take  up  the  slack, 
train  gradually  slowing  down ;  when 
near  the  platform  the  brakeman 
would  lay  onto  the  rear  brake, 
baggage  master  take  another  turn  and 
the  stop  was  made  and  they  seldom 
ran  by. 

Signals  by  bell  cords  were  seldom 
given  and  it  was  only  used  as  an  em¬ 
ergency  or  “stop  at  once.”  For  sta¬ 
tion  stops  there  -was  a  target  on  the 


115 

opposite  side  of  each  end  of  the  pas-  promoted  to  engineer ;  went  down  with 


senger  cars  and  this  was  used  as  a 
signal  to  stop  at  flag  stations  and  was 
thrown  out  by  the  conductor  or  brake- 
man  and  always  on  the  engineer’s  side 
and  after  stop  was  made  it  was 
tipped  back  into  place  out  of  sight.  E. 
F.  Mann  as  baggage  master  and  James 
C.  Badger  as  brakeman  were  the 
“king  pins”  in  making  stops  with  the 
hand  brakes  in  those  days. 

C.  W.  Adams. 


Ex-Mayor  Hutchins  of  Berlin  adds 
one  more  to  his  several  other  already 
interesting  letters.  I  am  glad  Mr. 
Hutchins  sent  this  bit  of  information 
as  it  is  just  what  I  wanted.  In 
one  of  the  annual  reports  of  the  di¬ 
rectories  of  the  old  road  there  was 
mention  made  of  heavy  losses  sustain¬ 
ed  from  high  water  in  1869,  but  up  to 
now  nothing  definite  could  be  ascer¬ 
tained  as  to  the  extent  of  the  several 
washouts. 

Berlin,  N.  H 
May  IS,  1919. 

C.  E.  Caswell: 

I  have  not  as  yet  seen  any  account 
of  the  great  flood  in  Oct.  1869. 

It  began  raining  Sunday  morning, 
rained  all  day  Sunday,  that  night  and 
Monday.  I  was  firing  the  mail  train 
at  the  time ;  left  Woodsville  Monday 
morning  on  time ;  George  A.  Furgur- 
son  was  engineer ;  Sid  Russ,  conduc¬ 
tor  ;  we  found  water  running  over 
track  in  places  all  the  way  down  to 
Laconia.  I  would  get  off  and  wade 
through  ahead  of  the  engine  to  see  if 
the  track  was  safe.  When  we  got 
to  the  bridge  south  of  Winnisquam  we 
found  it  down  against  the  fence.  We 
started  right  back.  When  we  reach¬ 
ed  Durkee  Sands,  found  60  feet  of 
track  washed  out,  stayed  there  that 
night.  I  watched  the  engine :  Peter 
Hinds  watched  train ;  next  day  the 
track  was  repaired  so  we  got  back  to 
Lake  Village.  Next  morning  I  was 


men  to  the  brook  south  of  Union 
bridge  (now  East  Tilton,)  where  the 
track  was  washed  out ;  there  was  an¬ 
other  washout  south  of  Sanbornton; 
another  at  Bryant’s  brook,  between 
Northfield  and  Canterbury ;  dump  all 
washed  out  about  fifty  feet  deep  and 
two  hundred  feet  across ;  another  at 
Cold  Brook  south  of  Canterbury  about 
the  same  size ;  another  at  Burnham’s 
Brook  south  of  North  Concord  (now 
Boyce),  fifty  feet  deep  and  a  hundred 
and  fifty  or  two  hundred  feet  across ; 
track  was  washed  badly  between  .East 
Concord  and  Concord, 

There  were  no  trains  run  below 
Tilton  for  about  four  weeks ;  trans¬ 
ferred  across  from  Tilton  to  Franklin 
by  teams. 

The  Connecticut  River  through  Ha¬ 
verhill  and  Newbury  was  one  great 
lake  and  was  filled  with  corn  and 
pumpkins.  The  road  between  Woods¬ 
ville  and  Littleton  was  washed  badly 
in  places. 

I  think  it  was  the  greatest  damage 
by  water  in  the  history  of  the  B.  C.  & 
M. 

Yours  truly, 

George  E.  Hutchins. 


431  Yz  South  Main  St. 

Elkhart,  Ind. 

Mr.  C.  E.  Caswell: 

Dear  Sir : — So  you  thought  that  I 
had  gone  to  the  happy  hunting 
grounds,  but  not  yet.  If  you  are  the 
son  of  Ed.  Caswell,  then  I  knew  your 
father  well.  He  and  I  roomed  to¬ 
gether  and  boarded  at  the  old  maid’s 
at  Woodsville.  He  worked  for  Bax¬ 
ter  Kimball,  who  was  road  master 
then.  Your  father  could  tell  you  a 
lot  about  my  work  on  the  railroad. 
The  last  I  knew  of  him  he  was  station 
agent  at  Warren  Summit. 

You  wish  me  to  write  of  my  experi¬ 
ence  on  the  B.  C.  &  M.  I  will  try 
to  do  so,  or  some  of  it. 


4 


116 


In  the  spring  of  ’63  I  went  to  work 
on  the  section.  I  was  sixteen  years 
old.  In  the  fall  I  ran  the  stationary 
engine  at  Woodsy ille  and  sawed  wood 
for  five  engines  and  fired  the  McDuffee 
over  the  hill  (Warren  Summit.)  I 
did  that  for  two  months,  then  Ike 
Sanborn’s  fireman  enlisted  in  the  war 
and  Henry  Ramsey,  then  station  agent 
at  Woodsville,  put  me  to  firing  for  Ike 
Sanborn  who  was  running  the  Mail 
train  between  Littleton  and  Woods¬ 
ville.  With  Mountain  Maid  both 
Mail  and  freight,  four  trips  a  day.  I 
did  all  of  my  firing  for  him  and 
George  Eaton  who  ran  the  McDuffee 
then. 

In  the  fall  of  ’64,  Ike  Sanborn  laid 
off  and  I  run  his  engine.  When  he 
came  back  I  fired  for  him  until  he 
laid  off  again  in  the  spring  of  ’65,  then 
I  run  the  engine  until  he  came  back, 
then  fired  for  him  when  not  running 
extra  out  of  Woodsville. 

In  ’66  I  was  sent  to  Lake  Village  to 
run  extra  from  there.  In  the  sum¬ 
mer  of  ’67  I  run  the  Mountain  Maid 
from  Plymouth  to  Littleton  and  re¬ 
turn.  Will  Moore  fired  for  me ;  it  was 
his  first  firing.  Dave  Furgerson 
conductor.  Ike  Sanborn  took  the 
Peter  Clark  and  my  brother  George 
fired  for  him,  while  I  was  running  the 
summer  train.  In  the  fall  I  run  the 
Mountain  Maid  and  hauled  the  gravel 
train  between  Woodsville  and  Ply¬ 
mouth.  In  the  winter  Ike  Sanborn 
got  me  the  chance  to  fire  for  him 
again  as  I  wished  to  be  in  Littleton 
until  the  summer  train  was  put  on 
again.  He  laid  off  a  part  of  the  win¬ 
ter  and  brother  George  Lyons  fired  for 
me.  It  was  the  last  firing  I  did. 

In  the  summer  of  ’68  I  run  the 
Mountain  Maid  and  hauled  the  train 
between  Plymouth  and  Littleton. 
George  Eastman  conductor,  Peter 
Hines  brakeman  and  baggage  master, 
Rufe  Huckins  fireman.  It  was  call¬ 
ed  Eastman’s  train.  In  the  fall  and 
winter  I  run  the  freight  from  Woods¬ 
ville  to  Lake  Village.  In  the  sum¬ 


mer  of  ’69  I  hauled  the  Eastman  train 
again,  Orrin  Bailey  fireman.  The  ex¬ 
tension  from  Littleton  to  Whitefield 
line  started  in  ’69  and  after  the  two 
first  bridges  were  built  I  took  the 
Mountain  Maid  and  pushed  the  work 
train  with  rails  and  ties  until  we  got 
to  where  the  three  mile  bridge  wa^s  to 
be  built.  John  Butler  conductor,,  I 
helped  to  build  that  bridge  with  the 
engine.  The  bridge  builders  were  do¬ 
ing  the  work  by  hand.  I  told  them 
to  hitch  a  rope  to  the  engine  and  I 
would  haul  the  girders  and  stringers 
into  place,  and  they  did  so.  After 
that  bridge  was  done  I  had  the  engine 
Laconia  to  run  the  work  train  to 
Whitefield  line.  I  run  the  freight 
from  Woodsville  to  Whitefield,  after 
the  road  was  built  to  that  place,  and 
return.  I  had  engine  Peter  Clark, 
Charlie  Hoyt  fireman,  Ezra  Mann  con¬ 
ductor. 

When  the  freight  went  to  Lancaster 
I  hauled  it  with  the  Paugus.  Martin 
Perkins  fired,  Ezra  Mann  conductor.  I 
cannot  give  dates. 

George  Lyons  was  running  the 
Granite  State  with  work  train ;  when 
he  got  through  with  that  he  took  the 
Paugus  and  hauled  the  freight  and  I 
went  back  on  my  old  train,  the  freight, 
with  the  engine  Ammonoosuc.  I  kept 
that  run  a  number  of  years.  Then  I 
hauled  the  Mail  train  one  summer 
from  Woodsville  to  Concord  with  the 
Coos. 

When  the  Montpelier  and  Wells 
River  railroad  extended  to  Groton  I 
run  the  first  passenger  train,  a  special, 
from  Woodsville  to  Groton  with  the 
Coos  one  evening.  Henry  Ramsay, 
who  was  station  agent  at  Woodsville, 
conducted  the  train,  Billy  Woodbury 
fireman.  Part  of  one  winter  after 
the  extension  was  laid  from  the 
Fabyans  to  Lunenburg,  I  ran  the  Lan¬ 
caster  and  hauled  a  passenger  train 
for  the  P.  and  O.  road.  Jack  Lawler 
fired,  George  Eastman  conductor.  We 
were  there  part  of  one  winter,  the 
rest  of  the  winter  I  had  the  Lancas- 


-  117 

ter  with  the  snowplow  out  of  Woods-  rails  spread  and  cars  and  engine  went 
ville.  Baxter  Kimball  road  master,  over  the  dump  into  the  river.  He 
Jack  Lawler  fired  part  of  the  time  and  his  fireman,  Curt  Chamberlain, 
George  Bamsay  a  part.  My  conduc-  jumped.  George  got  one  arm  broken, 
tors  at  different  times  on  freights  be-  Little  John  Buckley  was  on  the  engine 
tween  Woodsville  and  Lake  Village  and  took  a  ride  to  the  river.  He  lost 
were  Manus  Perkins,  Chet.  Carpenter,  his  cap  on  the  way  and  when  they 
High  Moulton,  Henry  Mann.  Conduc-  took  him  off  the  engine  he  asked  for 
tors  on  opposite  freight  O.  R.  Farrar,  it.  He  is  an  engineer  now  on  the 
Frank  Butler,  George  Moulton,  En-  Mail  train  from  Woodsville  to  Con- 
gineer  Ossie  Berdeen.  cord,  or  was  when  I  was  in  New 

My  firemen  were  Martin  Perkins,  Hampshire  a  few  years  ago.  Jack 
Billy  Woodbury,  Orrin  Bailey.  Lawler  run  the  train  opposite  him. 

When  I  was  given  the  Mail  train  be-  I  had  other  firemen  and  conductors 
tween  Woodsville  and  Concord,  I  run  than  those  I  have  named.  Brother 
engine  Northumberland,  Milo  Annis  Charlie  fired  on  that  road  aWhile.  I 
fired,  then  Billy  Woodbury,  Fred  Whit-  do  not  remember  who  for.  j 
ing  and  probably  more.  James  W.  Foster  of  Bath,  has  sent 

George  Moulton  conducted  the  train  the  Warren  New*s  to  me  and  I  enjoy 
from  Lancaster  to  Plymouth,  and  Sid  reading  about  the  old  timers. 

Russ  conducted  from  Plymouth  to  I  wish  you  success  with  your  book 
Concord  and  back.  George  Randall  about  them. 


run  the  engine  for  the  train  opposite 
mine,  when  I  left  the  B.  C.  &  M.  R.  R. 
and  came  to  Elkhart,  Ind.,  in  1881. 

I  hauled  other  trains,  the  White 
Mountain  express  for  one,  from  Con¬ 
cord  to  Woodsville  and  brother  Gteorge  m 


Yours  sincerely, 


J.  Weston  Lyosns. 

fiaL  /it'?- 


I 


^eld#':v|||..,a  letter  from  George  F. 
il^^^Osfmaster  at  Ashland,  N. 


took  it  from  there  up  to  Lancaster  FTimmev  put  in  twenty-five 

the  Fabyans  _  I  do  not  remember.  I#ekrs  at  station  work  on  the  old  B., 
ran  a  special,  just  an  engine,  to  &  M.,  and  was  anxious  to  see  men- 

Henry  Ward  Beecher  to  the  Tmn|-ma(,e  of  some  0f  the  old  time  sta- 
Mountam  house.  He  got  left  at  C<ga-^|jon  agentg 
cord.  He  was  conducting  meeti^s  - 
at  the  mountains  that  summer.  Jgl  Friend  Caswell: 

took  an  excursion  train  there  fr<§jn,  '*§.■  I  have  greatly  enjoyed  reading-  the 
Woodsville,  one  Sunday  to  hear  h|b -a|^icles  you  have  published  regarding 
preach.  (I  was  on  that  train  going<|oFea%^ days  on  the  B.  C.  &  M. 

Fabyans  House  to  hear  and  see  the  ^  Possibly  it  might  be  well  tio  men- 
ted  evangelist.— Caswell.)  irt  your  pamphlet  that  i  J.  A. 

While  I  was  on  that  railroad  I  tun  Dodge  was  the  'first  station  agent, 
every  engine  that  they  had  then  and  As  the  road  was  built  from  Concord 
every  kind  of  train  from  the  work  north,  Mr.  Dodge  moved  north  with 
train  to  the  superintendent’s  train.  the  road  and  as  each  station  was 

Master  Mechanic  George  Stevens  set  opened,  be  would  take  charge  of  it  and 
me  to  running  an  engine.  Ralph  stay  until  a  man  had  been  hired,  and 
Adams  took  his  place  after  he  left,  broken  in  to  do  the  work,  when  Mr. 

George  Lyons  was  sent  with  engine  Dodge  would  then  move  on  to  the 
Marshfield  over  on  the  Montpelier  next  town  and  repeat  the  process, 
road  loading  wood  and  bark.  He  Some  of  the  men  entering  the  station 
was  pushing  a  loaded  train  and  the  service  in  those  early  days  remained 


) 


118 


±>m.7ry^  . 

.  *'  •*  f  -■■.:.'■•■■■!  ■  '  .*»;!.  *  •*  *•  *  ' 

•“  >-V  V'  V.i  «;•  ;  *  .  '  -  f  >'  *>'  • 

,  •-  ■  -  v  , »  v.  v  •; .  .»* 


.  :: 


j&mm 

•  •.  \ 

&Mw£wmm 


>  'r 

•  •  ••-.  -V* 


'  ’V^;  ’  'v 

V'/'  «■ 

*  s 


5  ''jkj'  -  f  •  f 


NED  T.  CASWELL 

For  thirty  years  connected  with  the  road  in  various  branches. 


Born  at  Haverhill,  1845 


Died  at  Warren,  1915 


119 


many  years  and  were  men  of  note  in 
their  communities. 

Among  these  were  Curt  Leavitt  of 
Laconia,  Beede  of  Meredith,  Colby  of 
Plymouth,  Harris  of  Ashland  and  Riley 
Swain  at  West  Rumney,  whose  an¬ 
nual  sugar  parties  are  still  re¬ 
membered  and  whose  name  is  per¬ 
petuated  in  Swainboro  station.  There 
were  also  the  Davisons  and  many 
others  of  the  agents  who  were  well 
known  men  and  long  in  the  service. 

1  remember  one  thing  in  regard  to 
Engineer  “Joe  Hooker”  who  has  been 
mentioned  several  times  in  your 
articles.  One  morning  he  was  going 
south  with  a  freight, — on  leaving  Went¬ 
worth  said  he  was  due  at  West  Rum¬ 
ney  in  just  8  minutes.  Perhaps  he 
would  have  made  it  but  an  axle  broke 
under  one  of  the  cars,  on  the  Bulls 
Eye  Curve,  and  while  I  do  not  re¬ 
member  that  any  one  was  hurt  much, 
the  train  was  a  sorry  sight,  and  the 
adjoining  field  piled  high  with  the 
wreck.  When  the  first  wrecking 
crew  reached  the  scene,  Joe  was  busy 
explaining  to  the  bystanders  what  a 
lucky  Jiing  it  was  he  was  going  as  he 
expressed  it  “damned  slow  and  easy” 
at  the  time  or  the  wreck  would  have 
been  much  worse.  I  notice  in  the  list 
of  engines  the  “Lady  of  the  Lake”. 
No\y  I  well  remember  the  engine ;  for 
many  years  she  ran  north  from  Ply¬ 
mouth  on  the  morning  train  and  her 
name  then  was  simply,  “Lady”  there 
was  no  Lake  to  it  in  my  time  and  I 
wronder  if  there  ever  was.  This  en¬ 
gine  was  about  as  big  as  a  Ford  car, 
and  wras  gay  with  glittering  brass  and 
red  paint.  I  have  now  in  my 
possession  the  board  with  the  name 
Franconia  painted  on  it,  which  I  found 
floating  in  Baker’s  River  after  the 
Franconia,  together  with  the  Moosi- 
lauke  were  wrecked  in  a  washout  at 
Wentworth  more  than  40  years  ago. 
It  was  Edward  Henry  Mann’s  opinion, 
freely  expressed,  that  the  alderbushes 
did  more  than  John  Marsh’s  prayers 


toward  saving  John’s  life  on  that  oc¬ 
casion  when  he  was  being  swrept  awray 
in  rushing  water. 

Railroading  in  those  days  was  in 
some  ways  rather  a  happy-go-lucky 
aliair.  But  the  men  as  a  rule  worked 
hard  and  were  devoted  to  the  service. 
I  very  much  doubt  if  the  present  gen¬ 
eration  contending  with  the  same  diffi¬ 
culties  could  make  a  better  showing. 

It  is  my  impression  the  record  for 
time  Woodsville  to  Concord  made 
many  years  ago  by  Engineer  William 
Kimball  and  the  Tip-Top  still  stands 
unbeaten. 

I  am  glad  you  are  doing  what  you 
are  to  perpetuate  the  memories  of 
those  days ;  for  some  of  us  at  least 
“Them  were  the  Happy  Days.” 

George  F.  Plummer. 


My  dear  Mr.  Caswell: 

I  have  been  much  interested  in 
reading  the  letters  and  various  items 
that  have  appeared  from  time  to  time 
in  your  valuable  paper,  regarding 
some  of  the  events  connected  with  old 
times  on  the  railroad.  They  bring  to 
mind  many  things  connected  with  my 
own  experience  as  a  railroad  man  and 
by  your  kind  permission  I  will  refer 
to  just  a  few. 

I  went  to  work  for  the  B.  C.  &  M. 
railroad  in  1868  at  Lake  Village  as  it 
was  then  called  as  a  blacksmith. 

Joe  Lougee  was  the  firemen  of  the 
shop,  Ralph  Adams  master  mechanic 
and  Moses  Elkins  master  car  builder. 
Among  my  associates  in  the  shop  I  re¬ 
member  Frank  Randall  and  John  Don¬ 
ovan  as  blacksmiths  with  Joe  Judkins 
and  Bartlett  Hall  as  helpers.  All  of 
them  have  passed  to  the  great  beyond 
I  believe,  except  Judkins  who  is  a  sub¬ 
stantial  farmer  in  Belmont.  We 
went  to  work  in  those  days  at  6 :30 
o’clock  in  the  morning:  and  left  off  at 
6:30  at  night  with  one  hour  at  noon. 
About  every  thing  was  done  by  hand, 
very  little  machinery  being  in  use,  al¬ 
though  we  did  have  the  trip  hammer 


120 


to  help  shape  some  of  the  heavier  pieces 
of  iron.  When  there  was  a  wreck  on 
the  railroad  every  one  had  to  get  out 
and  lend  a  helping  hand.  This  was 
not  especially  conducive  to  an  even 


ORRIN  H.  BEAN, 

Started  work  for  the  B.,  C.  &  M.  in  1868 — 
fifty-one  years  ago  and  still  at  it. 


temper  when  the  thermometer  was  at 
zero  or  below,  or  when  there  was  a 
north  east  snow  or  rain  storm  raging 
at  the  same  time.  In  October  1869 
the  great  freshet  occurred  when  every 
railroad  bridge  was  washed  out  be¬ 
tween  Laconia  and  Concord.  Then 
the  boys  had  to  hustle,  working  night 
and  day,  not  excepting  Sundays  until 
the  trains  could  resume  their  regular 
schedule. 

A  gang  would  leave  home  at  5 
o’clock  in  the  morning  and  get  back 


anywhere  from  7  to  9  in  the  evening 
and  think  themselves  lucky  by  so  do¬ 
ing.  No  labor  organizations  in  those 
days  to  watch  out  that  you  did  not 
work  over  time.  I  think  it  was  in 
the  same  month  as  the  great  freshet 
that  an  engine  ran  off  the  track  one 
mile  north  of  Plymouth  and  went 
down  an  embankment  over  20  feet 
turning  completely  over.  Henry 
Little  was  the  engineer  and  strange  to 
say  was  not  injured  to  any  great  ex¬ 
tent,  but  the  fireman  Frank  ISwazey 
was  badly  hurt,  although  as  I  re¬ 
member  not  fatally  so.  We  worked 
all  day  Saturday  and  into  the  night  in 
the  rain  and  all  day  Sunday,  then 
work  was  suspended  until  the  next 
Saturday  when  it  was  resumed  and  we 
finally  got  the  engine  back  on  the  iron 
and  towed  it  down  to  Lake  Village  for 
repairs.  I  remember  well  all  of  the 
engines  referred  to  by  C.  E.  Cum¬ 
mings  in  his  interesting  article  in  your 
paoer,  •  except  the  Jenny  Lind  and  the 
Starr  King;  these  I  don’t  seem  to  re¬ 
call. 

In  1871-2  I  was  in  Vermont,  but  in 
1873  I  came  back  to  N.  H.  and  went 
to  work  for  the  Northern  Railroad  in 
Concord,  under  J.  N.  Lauder  as  mas¬ 
ter  mechanic  where  I  remained  for  six 
v’ears.  In  1879  I  went  to  the  old 
Concord  road  under  James  T.  Gordon 
master  mechanic  and  continued  suc¬ 
cessively  with  the  Concord,  the  Con¬ 
cord  &  Montreal  and  Boston  &  Maine, 
where  I  am  still  pounding  iron  which 
I  have  been  doing  for  over  50  years.  I 
am  some  little  past  the  three  score  and 
ten  mark  but  my  courage  is  good  and 
it  is  possible  that  a  kind  and  beneficent 
providence  will  vouchsafe  to  me 
the  privilege  of  rounding  out  four 
score  years,  before  I  am  obliged  to  lay 
down  the  implements  of  life  and  pass 
on  to  that  “undiscovered  country  from 
whose  bourne  no  traveler  returns.” 

Yours  very  truly, 

Orrin  H.  Bean, 

194  South  Main  St.,  Concord,  N.  H. 


121 


There  has  been  more  or  less  con¬ 
troversy  with  reference  to  the  Mt. 
Washington  and  Carroll.  John  Buck- 
ley  tells  ml  the  road  owned  an  engine 
named  Mt.  Washington,  No.  20;  later 
they  bought  the  first  ten  wheel  loco¬ 
motive  Owned  in  New  England,  a 
heavy  machine  to  run  between  the 
Base  of  the  mountain  and  Fabyans, 
and  named  her  Mt.  Washington,  her 
number  being  29,  and  the  other 
‘  Mount”  was  renamed  Carroll.  No.  20. 


Both  the  Lancaster  engine  and  Car- 
roll  were  said  to  be  very  attractive, 
and  had  more  brass  in  their  mount¬ 
ings  than  any  other  engines  in  the 
country.  They  cost  the  road  $17,000.00 
each. 


It  was  thirty-five  years  ago  the  old 
road  first  went  out  of  existence, 
(1884).  .  One  of  the  boys  who  went 
to  work  about  that  time  and  had  a 
part  in  railroad  affairs  about  that 
time  and  along  down  the  years  since 
was  Amos  Wheeler,  who  was  brake- 
man,  conductor,  later  station  agent  at 
Whitefield  twenty-five  years  ago, 
later  agent  at  Berlin.  Then  I  recol¬ 
lect  Fred  Burnham,  conductor, 
George  Baiiley,  Fred  Loveley;  I  had 
almost  forgotten  Mary  Buckley  tele¬ 
graph  operator;  Clarence  Caswell 
used  to  telegraph  for  the  old  road 
when  the  office  was  in  Jerry  Jewett’s 
store  near  the  railroad  crossing  here 
at  Warren.  There  was  Jim  Jones, 
Havey  Titus,  Bill  Morrison,  Charles 
Ordway,  Gilbert  McConnell,  as  good  a 
man  as  ever  walked  on  shoe  leather. 
Bill  Taylor  used  to  be  station  agent 
at  Lake  Village,  and  if  he  could 
come  back  and  see  them  doing  things 
there  today  he  would  stop  and  shake 
hands  with  himself  because  of  his  ef¬ 
forts  in  the  early  days. 


Early  in  this  article  appeared  a  pic¬ 
ture  of  the  old  depot  at  Tilton.  The 
first  stations  were  practically  all  the 


same  style.  At  the  present  day  the 
station  buildings  at  Haverhill,  Bath 
Rumney  and  Canterbury  are  of  fifty 
years  ago.  The  interiors  have  been 
somewhat  remodeled.  In  early  days 
soon  after  the  road  was  built  to 
Whitefield  Thomas  Powers  was  the 
“whole  shop  force”  at  that  point.  He 
is  now  retired  and  living  at  Newark, 
N.  J:  He  has  a  son,  Charlie  Powers 
who  is  yard  master  at  Berlin.  Charles 
A.  Upton,  a  blacksmith  here  in  War¬ 
ren  put  in  two  years  as  baggage  mas¬ 
ter  for  the  old  road  working  along 
with  A1  Mooney.  Chester  B.  Averill, 
a  local  merchant  here  began  as  tele¬ 
graph  operator  at  Lake  Village  about 
the  time  the  road  first  changed  hands 
and  stayed  on  for  years. 

Then  there  was  Dave  Eaton  and 
Will  Howe  at  Wentworth  in  the  B.  & 
L.  days. 


Here  follows  a  letter  from  W.  H. 
Mathews,  cashier  of  the  C.  P.  Rock¬ 
well,  Inc.,  of  the  Nash.  Car  Co.,  Bos¬ 
ton,  who  was  connected  with  the  old 
road  and  Pemigewasset  House,  thirty 
or  more  years  ago. 

Boston,  Mass.,  June  3,  1919 
C.  E.  Caswell. 

Warren,  N.  H. 

Dear  Sir:  — 

I  commenced  service  with  the 
B.,  C.  &  M.  in  the  Passenger  Depart¬ 
ment  in  the  early  eighties  and  at  the 
Boston  and  Plymouth  offices. 

Was  associated  with  Supt.  J.  A. 
Dodge,  W.  R.  Brackett,  and  George  W. 
Stoner,  and  was  transferred  to  the 
Boston  and  Lowell  which  leased  the 
B,.  C.  &  M.  and  White  Mountain  Di¬ 
vision,  with  W.  A.  Stowell  and  E.  F. 
Mann,  as  Supt.  and  Asst.  Supt. 

Lucius  Tuttle  as  General  Passen¬ 
ger  Agent,  and  G.  W.  Storer  as  A.  G. 
P.  A.  and  went  to  Plymouth  as  Cash¬ 
ier  at  Pemigewasset  House,  under 
Carl  Morse,  B.  W.  Angell  and  C.  E. 
Sleeper  as  Managers. 


122 

This  House  was  the  central  resting  House  Keeper  was  out  and  the  Head 


spot  for  all  the  officials  of  several 
railroad  systems  while  taking  trips  to 
the  White  Mountains  also  for  meals, 
over  night  and  week  end  ’vacations. 
Edwin  Morry  as  President  also  stop¬ 
ped  for  two  days  when  making 
monthly  inspections.  C.  H.  Brown  of 
Hogg-Brown-Taylor  Co.  Dry  Goods, 
Boston;  C.  H.  Breed,  Lynn,  Mass,  in¬ 
terested  in  Miica  Mines  in  Groton,  E. 
H.  Kidder,  Banker,  Boston  and  New 
York.  G.  H.  McCaniley,  Leader  of  U.  S. 
Marine  Band,  Washington,  D.  C. 

One  little  incident  occurred  the  fif¬ 
teenth  of  July  1886.  which  will  never 
be  forgotten  by  those  who  saw  it. 

The  Ancient  and  Honorable  Artil¬ 
lery  of  Boston  were  booked  to  dinner 
at  the  “Perni”  on  their  pilgrimage 
and  trip  to  Montreal.  On  the  morn¬ 
ing  of  that  day  the  Head  Waiter  and 
House  Keeper  had  discussion  who 
should  iron  the  table  linen,  viz;  the 
table  waiters  or  the  chamber  maids. 
The  House  Keeper  took  the  stand 
former  should  do  it  and  Head  Waiter 
claimed  the  latter  should  do  it. 

The  result  was  the  waiters  struck 
and  left  at  11 — A.  M.  dinner  was  to 
be  served  at  12:30  to  4  00  people  on 
arrival  of  train  from  Boston.  The 
employers  left  that  could  be  spared 
were  sent  out  and  comm\aindeered 
every  man  and  woman  to  act  a  recep¬ 
tion  committee. 

On  the  arrival  of  the  train  the  Artil¬ 
lery  let  themselves  loose  and  when 
orders  came  slow  they  made  their 
way  to  the  kitchen,  helped  themselves 
and  greatly  aroused  the  indignation 
of  the  Italian  meat  cook,  the  German 
pastry  cook,  and  French  vegetable 
cook,  and  several  doors  bore  the 
marks  of  carving  knives  and  cleavers, 
and  it  was  very  fortunate  that  no  one 
was  injured  except  their  dispositions 
and  train  delayed  two  hours. 

Before  night  all  but  two  waiters 
p'eaded  so  earnestly  to  be  taken  back 
that  they  were  accepted,  and  the 


Waiter  resigned. 

Yours  truly, 

W.  H.  Mathews. 


Everybody  along  the  road  today 
knows  Fred  L.  Chase,  a  popular  pas¬ 
senger  conductor  on  the  White  Moun¬ 
tain  division.  Fred  Chase  in  his  early 


FRED  L.  CHASE. 


days  was  a  printer  at  Littleton.  I 
have  often  heard  it  said  a  printer  has 
a  knowledge  of  matters  and  things 
which  enables  him  to  engage  in  most 
any  business  or  line  of  work,  he  so 
desires.  Fred  Chase  finally  laid 
down  the  stick  and  rule  and  went  to 
work  for  the  B  ,  C.  &  M.  As  the  old 
road  went  out  of  existence  and  other 
managements  came  and  went  he  stay¬ 
ed  through  thick  and  thin,  worked 
his  way  up  the  ladder  of  promotion 


123 


frcm  a  humble  beginning,  learning 
all  branches  of  railroad  work  and  to¬ 
day  is  one  of  the  few  men  in  the  har¬ 
ness  who  started  his  railroad  career 
on  the  old  B.,  C.  &  M.  Lie  is  a  resi¬ 
dent  of  Concord,  highly  respected  in 
that  city,  as  well  as  in  the  many 
tGwns  along  the  line  through  which 
he  has  run  for  so  many  years. 


It  is  impossible  to  close  this  history 
of  the  old  B.  C.  &  M.  and  the  men  who 
he  ped  make  it  without  briefly  refer¬ 
ring  to  the  triumph  with  which  en¬ 
gineering  skill  has  achieved  in  the 
construction  of  the  Mount  Washing¬ 
ton  Railway,  as  many  of  the  men  of 
the  B.  C.  &  M.  had  to  do  with  the 
building  of  and  work  on  the  road 
up  the  mountain  which  was 
built  in  1869  by  the  Mount  Washing¬ 
ton  Railway  Company.  During  the 
summer  season,  steam  cars  daily  run 
over  the  track  which  passes  up  the 
west  side  of  the  mountain  to  the  sum¬ 
mit.  The  B.  C.  &  M.  extended  its  line 
to  the  Base,  bought  a  special  locomo¬ 
tive,  the  Mt.  Washington,  No.  29, 
(which  was  the  first  ten  wheel  loco¬ 
motive  ever  in  New  England)  and 
special  observation  cars  to  run  from 
Fabyans  to  the  Base.  The  construc¬ 
tion  of  the  road  up  Mount  Washing¬ 
ton  was  due  to  the  enthusiasm  and 
inventive  genius  of  Mr.  Sylvester 
Marsh,  of  Littleton,  N.  H.  At  first  it 
was  difficult  to  convince  mechani¬ 
cians  of  the  feasibility  of  the  scheme, 
and  little  encouragement  was  afford¬ 
ed  by  capitalists  until  an  engine  was 
actually  running  over  a  portion  of  the 
route.  Finally,  the  necessary  funds 
having  been  subscribed,  the  railroad 
was  finished  in  1869.  It  starts  from 
a  point  2,668  feet  above  the  sea,  and 
about  3,600  below  the  summit.  The 
average  grade  is  1,300,  the  maximum 
1,980  feet  to  the  mile.  There  are  nine 
curves  on  the  line,  varying  from  497 
to  954  feet  radius.  The  track  con¬ 
sists  of  three  rails,  the  outer  four 


feet,  seven  and  a  half  inches  apart, 
which  sustain  the  principle  weight  of 
the  rolling  stock,  and  an  inner  ccg- 
rail,  four  inches  wide,  into  which  the 
teeth  of  the  driving-weel  of  the  en¬ 
gine  play,  and,  as  it  revolves,  the 
whole  engine  is  made  to  move,  resting 
on  the  cuter  rails.  Practically,  the 
operation  is  accomplished  by  one  cog¬ 
wheel  working  into  another.  The  at¬ 
mospheric  brakes  reduce  the  possi¬ 
bility  of  accident  to  a  minimum  risk. 


MOUNT  WASHINGTON. 

Reminiscences  of  Walter  Aiken  and 
the  Mountain  Railroad. 

The  services  commemorating  the 
100th  anniversary  of  the  opening  of 
the  Crawford  Bridle  Path  to  the 
summit  of  Mount  Washington  and 
the  50th  anniversary  of  the  opening 
of  the  Mount  Washington  railway 
were  jointly  observed  July  5th  in  a 
grove  near  the  Crawford  house.  The 
speakers  were  Frank  H.  Burt,  Frank¬ 
lin  K.  Reed  of  the  federal  forest  ser¬ 
vice,  and  Ex-United  States  Senator 
John  W.  Weeks  of  Massachusetts. 

Frank  H.  Burt,  son  of  the  late 
Henry  M.  Burt,  founder  of  “Among 
the  Clouds,”  published  upon  the 
summit  of  Washington,  and  the  first 
mountain  newspaper  in  the  world, 
gave  his  reminiscences  of  the  build¬ 
ing  of  the  Mount  Washington  rail¬ 
way.  Mr.  Burt  said: 

“Fifty  years  ago  today — Monday, 
July  5,  1869 — the  Boston  Journ.  . 

printed  the  following  dispatch  under 
date  of  Concord,  N.  H.,  July  4: 

“  ‘Asst.-Supt.  Rowell  telegraphed 
that  the  Mt.  Washington  railway  was 
completed  yesterday  and  that  trains 
now  run  to  the  Tip-Top  house.’ 

“Thus  was  announced  the  greatest 
triumph  of  railway  engineering  up  to 
that  time  in  the  United  States.  The 
vision  and  enterprise  of  a  son  of  New 
Hampshire,  Sylvester  Marsh,  of 


124 


Littleton,  aided  by  the  skill  of  other 
New  Hampshire  men,  had  created  the 
first  cog  railway  built  to  the  summit 
of  any  mountain  in  the  world. 

“It  is  fitting  that  we  commemorate 
today  this  event  in  conjunction  with 
the  work  of  the  pioneer,  Ethan  Allen 
Crawford,  who  50  years  before  made 
the  first  step  in  the  conquest  of  Mt. 
Washington  by  the  opening  of  the 
first  footpath.  Mt.  Washington  has 
always  offered  a  challenge  to  adven¬ 
turous  spirits.  The  first  to  feel  this 
challenge  were  those  who  simply 
came  for  the  pleasure  of  the  climb; 
next  those  who,  like  Dr.  Jeramy  Bel¬ 
knap,  came  for  scientific  study.  To 
Ethan  Crawford  the  challenge  was 
the  question  of  how  to  make  the 
ascent  easier  for  those  not  accustom¬ 
ed  to  the  wilds.  Then  in  succession 
the  way  for  visitors  was  made  easier 
by  bridle  path,  by  carriage  roads,  and 
finally  by  railroad. 

“Sylvester  Marsh,  a  native  of  New 
Hampshire,  went  to  Chicago  in  early 
life  and  engaged  in  business  for 
many  years.  During  a  visit  to  his  na¬ 
tive  state  he  went  up  Mt.  Washington 
and  appears  at  that  time,  or  soon  af¬ 
ter,  to  have  formed  the  idea  of  the 
building  of  the  railroad.  In  1858  he 
was  granted  a  charter  for  railroads 
to  the  summits  of  Mts.  Washington 
and  Lafayette,  declining  with  thanks 
the  satirical  proposition  that  the 
charter  should  permit  him  to  build  to 
the  moon.  In  1864,  having  retired 
from  business,  Mr.  Marsh  came  East, 
and  many  Bostonians  of  that  time 
were  amused  by  the  enthusiasm  of 
this  visionary  old  gentleman  when  be 
exhibited  the  model  of  his  proposed 
railroad  in  an  office  on  Washington 
street  while  seeking  to  raise  funds. 
He  met  with  about  as  much  encour¬ 
agement  as  though  he  had  proposed  to 
start  an  orange  grove  in  Greenland, 
and  when  he  finally  made  a  beginning 
toward  his  venture  he  had  to  depend 
largely  on  his  own  means. 


“In  May,  1866,  Mr.  Marsh  began  the 
building  of  the  road.  The  first  engine 
was  built  by  Campbell  Whittier  &  Co. 
of  Boston.  On  August  29,  1866,  when 
a  quarter  of  a  mile  of  track  had  been 
laid,  a  demonstration  was  given  to  a 
group  of  practi'cal  railroad  men,  who 
found  that  Mir.  Marsh  actually  had  a 
device  safe  and  efficient  for  climbing 
and  descending  mountains.  The 
‘dreamer’  had  triumphed. 

“The  remaining  construction  of  the 
railroad  was  financed  by  the  railroads 
interested  in  White  mountain  travel 
and  within  two  years  the  track  was 
laid  half  way  to  the  summit.  The  for¬ 
mal  opening  took  place  August  14, 
1868.  Construction  was  rushed  the 
rest  of  that  season  and  work  was  kept 
up  until  Oct.  16,  when,  with  only  500 
feet  of  track  to  build,  the  workmen 
were  driven  away  by  a  fierce  snow 
storm.  Work  was  resumed  the  fol¬ 
lowing  June,  and  in  three  weeks’  time 
the  brack  was  finished  to  the  summit, 
the  first  trains  running  to  the  top  on 
Saturday,  July  3. 

“Mr.  Marsh’s  right  hand  man  in  the 
enterprise  was  Walter  Aiken  of 
Franklin,  N.  H.,  who  became  the  man¬ 
ager  and  the  largest  individual  stock¬ 
holder. 

“He  designed  and  built  several  of 
the  engines  used  upon  the  road,  mak¬ 
ing  many  improvements  on  the  ori¬ 
ginal  plan,  both  in  the  direction  of 
safety  and  efficiency.  His  father, 
Herrick  Aiken,  was  undoubtedly  the 
first  to  conceive  the  idea  of  a  railway 
up  Mt.  Washington.  He  constructed 
a  model  and  sought  to  interest  rail¬ 
road  men  in  his  scheme.  But  the 
‘practical’  men  of  his  day  could  see 
nothing  in  it  but  peril  and  loss,  and 
it  remained  for  the  dreamer.  Marsh  to 
make  the  idea  a  reality.  Herrick 
Aiken’s  designs,  however,  in  the 
hands  of  his  son,  undoubtedly  played 
an  important  part  in  the  final  shap¬ 
ing  of  the  road. 


125 


"'Walter  Aiken  was  a  typical  exam¬ 
ple  of  the  old-time  New  England 
manufacturer — a  mechanical  genius 
and  a  successful  business  man.  He 
was  a  man  of  indomitable  will  and 
tireless  energy,  and  it  is  safe  to  say 
that  without  such  a  man  the  railroad 
never  would  have  been  the  success 
that  it  has  ten.  One  incident  shows 
his  characteristic  spirit.  Early  in  the 
history  of  the  road  he  received  on  a 
Saturday  at  his  shop  in  Franklin  a 
telegram  that  engine  No  2  had  broken 
an  axle  on  Jacob’s  Ladder  and  asking 
to  have  a  new  one  made  and  skipped 
at  once.  Work  began  on  the  axle  at 
noon. 

“At  10  that  night  Mr.  Aiken,  with 
the  finished  axle  and  gears,  stepped 
aboard  a  special  engine  at  Tilton  and 
was  rushed  through  to  Littleton,  the 
railroad  terminus,  where  he  was  met 
at  4  o’clock  Sunday  morning  by  one 
of  the  mountain  engineers,  John  L. 
Davis,  with  a  pair  of  old  horses  and  a 
dilapidated  express  wagon.  Loading 
the  axle  and  gears'  into  the  wagon, 
they  dared  not  trust  any  more  weight 
to  the  rickety  affair,  and  Aiken  and 
Davis  were  forced  to  walk  every  step 
of  the  25-  miles  from  Littleton  to  the 
Base  station. 

“They  had  breakfast  at  Bethle¬ 
hem,  dinner  at  the  Twin  Mountain 
house,  and  reached  the  base  at  5  p. 
m.,  expecting  to  find  a  train  ready  to 
carry  them  up  to  where  the  disabled 
engine  awaited  its  new  axle.  But 
most  of  the  workmen,  not  looking 
for  such  energy  cn  Mr.  Aiken’s  part, 
had  gone  to  the  Crawford  house  to 
spend  the  day. 

“Rounding  up  the  few  that  were 
left,  engine  No.  1  was  fired  up  and 
ran  up  the  mountain  to  Jacob’s  Lad¬ 
der,  where  the  new  axle  was  placed 
under  engine  No.  2,  which  was  then 
fired  up,  and  Davis  Tan  one  engine 
back  to  the  base  and  Aiken  the  other, 
arriving  at  9  p.  m.,  so  that  the  road 
would  be  ready  for  business  Monday 


morning,  ‘My  men  were  somewhat 
surprised,’  wrote  Mr.  Aiken  in  de¬ 
scribing  the  incident,  ‘when  they  re¬ 
turned  from  the  Crawford,  to  find 
everything  in  running  order  again.’ 

“Just  what  he  said  to  his  em¬ 
ployers,  who  had  enjoyed  the  Sunday 
holiday  while  he  was  toiling  over  the 
hot*  and  dusty  road  from  Littleton, 
may  safely  be  left  to  the  imagination. 

“Just  before  the  completion  of  the 
road  a  Swiss  engineer  named  Otto 
Gruninger  visited  the  mountain  to 
make  drawings  and  studies  of  the 
track  and  apparatus.  He  came  in 
the  interest  of  Nicholas  Riggenbaeh, 
superintendent  of  the  Central  rail¬ 
way  of  Switzerland,  who  had  been 
granted  patents  in  1863  on  a  some¬ 
what  similar  cog  railway  for  moun¬ 
tain  climbing,  and  purposed  to  build 
a  railroad  up  the  Rigi.  Just  what 
influence  the  studies  of  the  Mt. 
Washington  system  had  upon  the 
Swiss  plans  is  not  known,  but  the 
Rigi  railway  was  soon  under  con¬ 
struction  and  was  opened  in  1870  or 
1871.  The  Riggenbaeh  patents  were 
used  and  everyone  who  is  familiar 
with  the  Mt.  Washington  device  can 
see  at  a  glance  that  the  mechanism 
is  decidedly  different.  >  But  no  doubt 
the  demonstration  of  the  cog  railway 
in  actual  operation  up  a  mountain 
gave  great  encouragement  to  the 
projectory  of  the  Swiss  railway,  and 
thus  Mt.  Washington  pointed  out  the 
way  for  the  building  of  the  Alpine 
road. 

“’Ihrough  Mr.  Aiken’s  enterprise 
the  Summit  house  was  built,  capable 
of  accommodating  200  persons.  The 
house  was  built  in  part  on  land 
leased  from  the  owners  of  the  terri¬ 
tory,  and  this  fact,  combined  with 
the  rivalry  of  tihe  two  enterprises,  led 
to  friction  and  ultimately  to  litiga¬ 
tion.  ‘We  do  not  feel  disposed  to 
pay  for  the  use  of  the  summit  and  to 
have  to  fight  for  it,’  wrote  Mr.  Aiken 
to  his  antagonists  on  one  occasion; 


126 


‘we  are  willing  to  do  one  or  the 
other,  but  do  not  want  to  do  both.’ 

“It  is  am  interesting  coincidence 
that  the  surveyor  who  laid  out  the 
road,  Col.  Freeman  of  Lancaster,  N. 
H.,  was  a  son-in-law  of  Ethan  Allen 
Crawford  and  the  line  adopted  for 
the  railroad  followed  closely  the 
route  of  Crawford’s  second  path. 

“No  train  on  the  Mt.  Washington 
railway  ever  carried  a  more  unlock¬ 
ed  for  load  than  the  one  which  in  the 
middle  of  July,  1877,  conveyed  to 
the  top  a  printing  press  and  the 
whole  outfit  for  a  daily  newspaper. 
My  father,  Henry  M.  Burt  of  Spring- 
field,  Mass.,  author  of  a  guide  to  the 
White  Mountains,  in  the  course  of 
one  of  his  visits  in  the  early  days  of 
the  railway,  when  storm  bound  on 
the  mountain,  conceived  the  idea  of 
a  newspaper  on  this  lonely  peak. 
Here  was  a  mountain  with  a  railway, 
a  hotel,  telegraph  and  nearly  every¬ 
thing  that  civilization  required;  why 
not  a  newspaper? 

“From  this  thought  grew  the 
paper  in  two  daily  editions  for  a 
third  of  a  century.  The  office  was 
for  several  years  in  the  old  stone  Tip 
Top  house,  after  which  a  small  frame 
building  near  the  hotel  was  put  up 
for  the  use  of  the  paper.  My  father 
continued  for  22  summers  as  editor 
and  publisher  of  the  paper,  until  his 
death,  March  7,  1899. 

“The  difficulties  attending  the 
running  of  a  newspaper  in  such  an 
isolated  spot  are  many,  and  the  over¬ 
coming  of  them  has  been  a  constant 
stimulus  to  ingenuity  and  often  times 
a  strain  upon  one’s  endurance  and 
patience.  In  its  unique  field  Among 
the  Clouds  has  had  to  deal  with  al¬ 
most  every  phase  of  life  which  con¬ 
fronts  the  newspaper  man  in  the 
world  below.  It  has  recorded  the 
visit  of  one  President  of  the  United 
States  to  Mt.  Washington — R.  B. 
Hayes  — and  of  countless  men  of 
fame  and  influence  from  every  coun¬ 


try  of  the  civilized  world.  The  hap¬ 
pier  side  of  life  has,  of  course,  pre¬ 
dominated,  but  the  tragic  has  not 
lean  wanting,  as  those  who  remen- 
ber  such  calamities  as  the  deaths  of 
William  B.  Curtis  and  Allan  Ormsbee 
wi.l  recall. 

“Then  we  have  had  the  newspaper 
man’s  delight  at  a  ‘scoop’  and  we 
have  utilized  the  famous  ‘slide 
beards’  to  send  a  special  edition  fly¬ 
ing  down  the  mountain  side  at  a  mile 
a  minute.  The  files  of  Among  the 
Clouds  preserved  in  several  libra¬ 
ries,  afford  a  mine  of  information  of 
White  Mountain  events  for  the  last 
40  years. 

“Not  the  least  interesting  feature, 
as  I  look  back  on  the  career  of 
Among  the  Cl'oudA  has  been  ‘the 
number  of  brilliant  young  men  who 
in  their  summer  vacations  were  as¬ 
sociated  with  our  staff.  There  was 
Harry  M.  Cheney,  afterward  speaker 
of  the  New  Hampshire  House  of  Re¬ 
presentatives;  John  Scammon  and 
Harry  Lord,  who  have  presided  over 
the  New  Hampshire  Senate;  Rev.  W. 
C.  Gordon  of  Auburndale  and  the 
Hon.  Louis  S.  Cox,  now  judge  of  the 
superior  court  of  Massachusetts. 
But  the  most  interesting  of  all  was 
the  coincidence  that  in  November, 
1918,  Massachusetts  and  New  Hamp¬ 
shire  each  chose  to  high  office  one 
who  had  rendered  brilliant  service  on 
the  staff  of  Among  the  Clouds — Chan- 
ning  H.  Cox,  who  went  from  the 
speakership  of  the  House  to  the 
Lieutenant-Governor’s  chair  of  the 
Bay  State,  and  John  H.  Bartlett,  who 
worthily  fills  the  chief  magistrate’s 
chair  in  New  Hampshire.” 

Franklin  K.  Reed  was  the  next 
speaker.  He  told  of  the  entry 
of  the  United  States  government 
into  the  plans  for  technical  and 
standardized  trail  building  in  con¬ 
nection  with  their  work  in  the 
United  States  forest  reserve,  which 


127 


now  embraces  400,000  acres  in  the 
White  Mountains  alone. 

At  the  close  of  Mr.  Reed’s  talk  a 
historic  shield,  the  gift  of  the  United 
States  forest  reserve,  was  unveiled. 
The  inscription  reads:  “Moaimt 

Washington  8 y2  miles  via  Southern 
Peaks  and  Lakes  of  the  Clouds. 
First  tourist  path  in  the  White  Moun¬ 
tains  opened  by  Abel  and  Ethan  Al¬ 
len  Crawford  in  1819.  Improved  as 
a  bridle  path  by  Thomas  J.  Crawford 
in  1840.  United  States  forest  ser¬ 
vice  official  trail  since  1917.” 

Ex-Senator  John  W.  Weeks  of 
Massachusetts,  who  came  from  his 
summer  home  in  Lancaster,  con¬ 
cluded  the  exercises  with  a  talk  upon 
the  early  history  of  this  part  of  the 
country,  and  said  that  his  ancestor, 
Maj.  John  Wingate  Weeks,  was  not 
only  one  of  the  first  party  to  make 
the  ascent  of  the  Crawford  bridle 
path,  but  assisted  at  that  time  in 
naming  the  peaks  of  the  Presidential 
range.  He  said:  ‘‘The  first  path  to 
the  top  of  Mount  Washington  was 
constructed  by  Crawford  in  1819,  the 
anniversary  of  which  we  are  cele¬ 
brating  today.  This  was  followed  by 
several  paths,  and  in  1840,  a  bridle 
path  was  constructed  This  com¬ 
menced  at  the  Giant’s  Grave,  passed 
up  the  Ammonoosuc  valley,  over 
Mts.  Clinton,  Pheasant,  Franklin  and 
Monroe  to  Washington.  Another 
bridle  path  constructed  at  this  time 
was  known  as  the  Davis  path,  which 
passed  over  Mount  Crawford,  along 
the  Dry  or  Mount  Washington  river 
to  Mount  Washington. 

The  exercises  were  under  tbe  aus¬ 
pices  of  tbe  New  England  Trail  con¬ 
ference.  Paul  Jenks,  its  president, 
and  councilor  of  improvements  for 
toe  Appalachian  Mountain  club,  pre¬ 
sided.  Gov.  John  H.  Bartlett  was 
rep~e"erted  by  State  Senator  Jar«es 
A.  Tufts  of  Exeter. 


Since  writing  it  a  number  of  times 
there  has  come  to  my  knowledge  that 
the  name  on  the  old  engine  No.  7  was 
spelled  Winnlpisseogee  and  not  the 
modern  way  of  spelling  the  lake  to¬ 
day.  This  old  engine  was  a  part  of  the 
road  itself  in  early  times,  and  every 
engineer  on  the  road  forty  to  fifty 
years  ago  run  her,  and  she  was  actu- 


FRANK  N.  KEYSER 
A  present  day  passenger  conductor 
who  learned  ropes  of  the  B.,  C.  &  M. 

allly  worn  out  and  had  to  be  scrap¬ 
ped.  The  ‘‘Winnie”  was  in  memory 
of  an  Indian  tribe.  Like  the  red  man, 
she  was  tough,  and  endured  much 
grief. 


Ed.  Bowler  was  another  of  the 
veteran  railroad  men  who  started  in 
when  railroading  was  in  its  crude 


128 


stages,  before  the  day  of  the  automa¬ 
tic  coupler,  air  brake  and  steam- 
heated  cars.  He  was  in  the  freight 
service  for  many  years  and  his  home 
was  at  Lake  Village. 


Many  a  man  has  gone  through  life 
and  to  his  grave  minus  a  finger  or  two 
or  a  crippled  hand  to  testify  to  the 
danger  of  hand-coupling  in  the  days 
of  making  hitches  with  the  link  and 
pin. 


In  early  days  the  method  of  con¬ 
necting  together  was  by  what  was 
known  as  “blocks”.  These  were 
pieces  of  oak  wood  thirty  inches  long 
and  about  three  inches  square  bolted 
to  the  outside  of  the  rails  at  the 
joints,  with  a  “fish-plate”  on  the  in¬ 
side  of  the  rails.  There  was  a  “chair” 
beneath  each  joint.  This  “chair”  was 
a  flat  piece  of  iron  six  inches  square 
spiked  to  a  tie,  and  the  rail  ends  or 
joints  rested  on  these  irons.  As  time 
went  on  modern  methods  were  adop¬ 
ted  and  the  antiquated  fish,  chairs  and 
side-blocks  were  discarded. 


Following  is  a  letter  from  E.  C. 
Whitcher,  cashier  of  the  National 
Bank  at  Concordia,  Kansas,  with  ref¬ 
erence  to  three  of  the  old  boys  who 
went  ont  west  some  thirty-five  years 
ago.  Mr.  Whitcher  was  a  Warren  lad 
and  like  all  hoys  was  more  or  less  in¬ 
terested  in  early  railroading,  and  got 
acquainted  with  many  of  the  men  of 
those  times. 

Concordia,  Kansas 
June  12,  1919 

Friend  Caswell: 

I  enclose  draft  $2.50;  don’t  know 
just  when  this  will  pay  to,  but  you 
can  give  proper  credit. 

I  have  been  much  interested  in 
your  history  of  early  R.  R.  men.  Many 
years  ago,  perhaps  thirty  or  more,  I 
got  on  a  train  here,  (the  B.  &  M.  in 
Neb.)  to  go  to  Omaha;  out  of  Concor¬ 
dia  was  Conductor  Green,  next  divi¬ 
sion  was  McGregor,  then  W.  H. 


Weeks,  all  were  formerly  from  the 
B,  C.  &  M.  R.  R.  and  well  remembered 
Com  my  boyhood  days  in  New  Hamp-' 
shire. 

Yours  truly, 

E.  C.  Whitcher. 

Back  forty-five  or  eight  years  ago 
Sam  Heat,  as  has  been  mentioned, 
run  a  rail  repair  shop  in  one  end  of 
the  engine  house  at  Wafren.  The 
first  time  I  ever  saw  Sam  Hoit  I  went 
into  the  shop  One  day  while  waiting 
for  the  mail  train.  There  was  a  lead 
of  wornout  rails  on  a  push  car.  Hoit 
was  a  man  of  unusual  strength, 
weighing  as  he  did  probably  275.  He 
brought  a  50-lb  sledge-hammer  down 
on  one  of  the  rails  and  I  nearly  jump¬ 
ed  twenty  feet  up  through  the  roof. 
Sam  Hoit  had  two  boys.  Naturally 
they  “took  to  railroading.”  Charles 
was  the  older  of  the  two  and  “got  on” 
first.  Ed,  the  younger  went  to  sea  for 
several  years,  and  one  day  came  home 

a  surprise  to  his  folks,  as  they  did 
not  know  his  whereabouts.  Soon  after 
he  went  to  firing  for  his  brother 
Charlie,  and  today  is  an  old  man  run¬ 
ning  one  of  the  way  freights  between 
Woodsville  and  Plymouth.  Charles 
Hoit,  like  most  of  the  good  and  faith¬ 
ful  B.,  C.  &  M.  men  has  passed  on  to 
rest  from  his  labors. 

Just  what  year  the  telegraph  line 
was  put  through  is  not  known,  but  it 
was  soon  after  the  Civil  War,  as  I 
have  heard  my  father  tell  how  he 
helped  set  the  poles.  My  mother  was 
telegraph  operator  and  for  years  be¬ 
sides  doing  her  housework  did  all  the 
telegraphing  at  Warren  Summit,  (Now 
Glencliff.)  Later  my  father  learned 
and  held  the  key  along  with  his  sta- 
ion  duties.  This  was  thirty-five  to 
forty  years  ago. 


129 


C.  E.  Caswell. 

Editor  Warren  News. 

In  the  Early  History  of  the  B.,  C.  & 
M.,  you  speak  of  the  rail  repair  shop 
in  the  engine  house  at  Warren. 

The  first  shop  for  repairing  of  rails, 
was  situated  a  little  south  of  R.  R. 
Crossing,  and  near  a  large  Elm  tree, 
Charles  Hicks,  was  the  first  to  repair 
rails  there,  for  a  number  of  years.  . 

Afterwards  it  was  moved  down  into 
the  old  engine  house,  (which  is  now 
the  freight  depot,)  and  Samuel  Hoit 
did  the  mending  there  for  a  number 
of  years  afterwards. 

The  R.  R.  had  a  car  house  south  of 
the  Passenger  Station  and  very  near 
the  rear  of  C.  B.  Averill’s  store. 

At  the  time  the  Hotel  burned, 
(which  stood  where  the  store  now  is) 
Mr.  Arthur  Knapp  had  a  cow  jump 
through  a  window  into  the  car  house 
and  was  burned  to  death. 

Warren,  N.  H. 

May  23rd,  1919.  James  H.  Williams. 


Henry  Williams  tells  about  loading 
slabs  on  a  push  car  at,  a  mill  near  the 
crossing  here,  running  the  car  out  on 
the  main  line,  carrying  slabs  some¬ 
where  down  into  the  yard.  One  da> 
this  car  got  away  from  him  and  run 
down  the  biltl.  Morrill  Sanborn  was 
station  agent  and  telegraphed  Went¬ 
worth  to  put  obstructions  on  the 
track  and  derail  the  car.  It  got  by 
Wentworth,  and  West  Rumney  was 
notified  to  do  the  same.  A  freight 
was  at  that  station.  Dye  Sargent 
was  engineer.  He  pulled  the  pin  and 
started  up  the  line  to  meet  the  on¬ 
coming  runaway  car.  He  saw  it 
coming  on  the  straight  line  above  the 
yard.  Running  as  near  as  he  thought 
safe,  he  reversed  the  engine  and 
started  back  down  the  yard,  gradually 
letting  the  runaway  car  come  up  a- 
gainst  the  pilot  and  it  stopped  with¬ 
out  doing  any  damage.  Henry  says 
this  was  his  only  railroad  experience, 
and  for  years  the  fellows  joked  him 


for  jumping  and  leaving  his  train  at 
Clough’s  Crossing.  He  was  a  lad  at 
the  time  and  since  then  has  had  no 
desire  for  railroad  life. 


Next  is  a  letter  from  Eu¬ 
gene  B.  Lane  of  Berlin,  N.  H.  When 
a  boy  he  left  the  old  farm  on  Briar 
Hill,  in  Haverhill,  and  went  to  work 
for  the  B.,  C.  &  M.  Lane  is  very  pre¬ 
cise  and  from  the  start  learned  rail¬ 
roading  thoroughly,  and  probably 
there  isn’t  a  man  on  the  road  with  a 
beter  understanding  of  the  handling 
of  traffic  than  Gene  Lane.  While  lit 
is  by  no  means  an  old  man,  he  started 
in  the  old  days  of  hand  brakes  and 
wood  burners,  has  seen  the  road 
change  hands  to  the  Boston  &  Lo¬ 
well,  the  Concord  &  Montreal  and  Bos¬ 
ton  &  Maine  and  ha§  kept  abreast  of 
the  times  as  the  years  came  and  went. 
For  a  number  of  years  he  and  George 
Hutchins  have  been  in  charge  of  pas¬ 
senger  trains  on  the  Berlin  Branch, 
between  Whitefield  and  Berlin.  They 
work  shoulder-to-shoulder,  Hutchins  in 
the  cab  and  Lane  in  the  coaches,  and 
the  officials  for  years  have  been  given 
but  little  anxiety  as  to  the  safety  of 
passenger  traffic  on  the  Berlin  Branch, 
because  they  realize  there  is  no  ma¬ 
terial  cause  for  anxiety  when  these 
capable  men  are  in  charge. 


Berlin,  N.  H. 

March  15,  1919. 

Friend  Caswell: 

I  have  been  very  much  interesed  in 
the  letters  of  early  days  of  railroading 
on  the  B.  C.  &  M. 

And  in  reading  them  they  bring  to 
my  mind  many  incidents  of  those  days. 

Then  the  train  crews  were  assigned 
to  certain  trains  and  many  times  kept 
together  month  after  month  and  some¬ 
times  years. 

I  remember  one  crew  I  worked  with 
all  “gone  West’’  now,  but  myself.  Con¬ 
ductor  Ed.  Williams,  Engineer  Austin 
Olney  and  Fireman  Elisha  McConnell, 
and  we  run  the  “special  freight”  from 


130 


Woodsville  to  Whitefield  and  return. 
This  train  was  put  on  to  handle  the 
output  from  the  big  saw-mill  of 
Brown’s  Lumber  Company  then  opera¬ 
ting  at  Whitefield.  We  used  to  make 


EUGENE  B.  LANE 


up  a  train  of  empty  cars  and  go  to 
Wing  Road,  turn  the  engine  on  the-  “Y” 
and  back  on  to  the  caboose  and  back 
the  train  to  Whitefield. 

It  was  my  duty  to  ride  the  front 
end  of  trains  to  look  out  for  persons 
on  the  track  or  at  the  crossings  ;  a 
cold  job  some  winter  nights.  At 
Whitefield  after  setting  off  the  empty 
cars  we  made  up  a  train  of  loads  for 
the  return  trip. 

The  train  consisted  mostly  of  flat 
cars  loaded  with  lumber,  and  we  con¬ 
sidered  ourselves  lucky  if  we  could  get 
one  or  two  box  cars  next  the  caboose 
for  brakes  to  help  hold  the  train 


down  the  hills.  No  air  brakes  on 
freight  cars  those  days. 

After  making  up  tne  train  we  usual¬ 
ly  had  a  helping  engine  as  far  as 
Burns’  which  was  a  little  four  wheel 
shifter,  “The  Doctor  Ordway”  and 
afterwards  “The  Pony.” 

Sometimes  when  the  train  was 
unusually  heavy  and  likely  to  be  st:  li¬ 
ed  I’ve  seen  Ed.  go  over  and  count  the 
cars  the  helper  was  pushing,  then 
when  we  arrived  at  Wing  Road,  Aus¬ 
tin  would  sometimes  tell  him  he  had 
taken  too  many  cars.  Ed.  would  say 
“Well,  the  helper  was  pushing  four 
cars  and  the  buggy  and  you  ought  to 
pull  the  rest  of  them,”  and  Elisha 
would  say  “Well  she  was  hot  anyhow, 
had  plenty  of  steam.” 

At  that  time  there  was  a  lumber 
mill  at  South  Littleton,  at  the  foot 
of  a  long  down  grade  and  (hose  days 
the  mill  crews  sometimes  did  shifting 
with  horses  pulling  cars  out  of  one 
track  and  back  on  another,  which 
helped  some  train  crew  who  had  that 
work  to  do. 

Evidently  someone  had  given  the 
mill  foreman  a  switch  key  so. he  co^ld 
open  'Bife  main  line  switch.  One 
night  we  were  coming  down  the  hill 
with  an  unusually  heavy  train,  having 
picked  up  six  or  eight  carloads  of 
fbur-foot  wood  at  Wing  Read ;  when 
hear  the  South  Littletbn  switch  the 
engineer  whistled  for  brakes,  and  al¬ 
most!  immediately  another  call  for 
brakes.  I  sometitnes  think  an  en¬ 
gineer  could  almost  make  an  engine 
talk  with  the  whistle,  at  any  rate 
that  second  whistle  startled  me  and  I 
climbed  up  on  top  of  a  car  load  of 
wood.  I  had  hardly  got  there  when  I 
heard  the  engine  in  reverse,  and  al¬ 
most  immeditely  a  grinding  crash  as 
engine  and  cars  left  the  rails  and 
smashed  into  the  ditch. 

I  whs  clinging  on  to  the  end  of  a 
wood  car  with  all  the  strength  I  had, 
and  when  the  train  stopped  I  started 
for  the  head  end  expecting  to  find  the 


131 


engineer  and  fireman  either  killed  or 
badly  injured. 

It  was  very  still,  the  only  sound  was 
the  escaping  steam  from  the  wrecked 
locomotive. 

.  Then  I  called  to  them,  hardly  ex¬ 
pecting  to  get  an  answer  but  Lisher 
answered  me.  I  asked  him  if  he  was 
hurt,  lie  said  “No,”  and  Austin  was 
there  and  all  right 

They  had  both  jumped  just  as  the 
engine  left  the  rails  and  cleared  them¬ 
selves  of  the  wreck. 

Just  then  we  heard  Ed  coming  from 
the  rear,  he  was  on  the  run,  all  out  of 
breath  and  very  much  excited,  “Say 
are  ye  alive,”  was  his  inquiry :  “Yes 
we  are  all  right,”  Austin  shouted 
“Where  is  Gene?”  was  his  next  query; 
“He  is  here  all  right,”  Lisher  told  him 
“Well,  if  you  fellows  are  r  11  right  I 
feel  better,’  was  his  comment. 

The  agents  those  days  at  the  sta¬ 
tions  between  Woodsville  and  White- 
field  are  all  gone  to  their  long  home. 

E.  H.  Weston  was  agent  at  White- 
field,  with  Hazen  Fiske  as  clerk ;  John 
Clifford  at  Wing  Road;  Alden  Quimby 
at  Littleton ;  Jule  Kelsey  at  Lisbon, 
Mr.  Lang  at  Dalton,  Harvey  Ross  at 
Bath ;  Fred  Nourse  at  Lancaster,  good 
and  true  men  every  one,  and  worked 
hard  for  the  interest  of  the  company 
which  they  served. 

Those  days  the  log  train  business 
was  an  important  part  of  the  service 
in  the  winter,  and  it  was  quite  a  sight 
to  see  trains  of  16  or  18  lengths  of 
logs  coming  down  the  Branch  from 
Fabyans  to  Whitefield  or  South  Little¬ 
ton.  These  trains  consisted  of  trucks 
with  four  wheels  and  a  heavy  bunk 
with  stakes  nearly  a  foot  in  diameter, 
which  was  set  at  the  log  landings 
that  were  built  big  enough  so  the 
logs  could  be  rolled  over  the  top  of 
the  stakes  and  drop  on  to  the  bunks. 
The  trucks  being  coupled  together 
with  reaches  some  of  them  30  feet 
long  with  coupling  iron  on  each  end. 

Some  of  the  men  who  manned  these 


trains  were  Len  Morrill,  engineer ; 
Harvey  Caswell,  brakeman ;  A1  Haynes 
and  John  Quimby. 

One  cold  January  morning  we  pull¬ 
ed  out  of  Fabyans  with  14  lengths; 
it  was  so  dark  we  couldn’t  see  the 
second  length  from  the  caboose.  Cas¬ 
well  was  holding  the  train  down  the 
grade  with  the  caboose  brake  and  we 
appeared  to  be  going  all  right  until  we 
were  going  through  the  Ammonoosuc 
Bridge,  a  couple  of  miles  north  of 
Bethlehem  Junction.  Just  as  the 
caboose  was  going  into  the  bridge 
there  came  an  awful  crash,  the  splint¬ 
ering  of  boards,  breaking  of  stakes 
and  the  whole  front  end  of  the  car 
seemed  to  come  crashing  inward  and 
with  it  the  end  of  a  big  spruce  log.  I 
was  sitting  on  a  seat  that  ran  length¬ 
wise  of  the  car  and  the  end  of  the  log 
came  altogether  too  near  to  me  for 
my  peace  of  mind.  I  jumped  for 
the  rear  and  put  up  the  brake  hard  as 
I  could,  and  signalled  the  engineer  to 
stop.  When  we  stopped  I  went  for¬ 
ward  to  investigate.  I  found  Harvey 
laying  among  the  wreckage,  groaning 
and  in  great  pain.  We  found  the 
forward  stake  on  one  side  of  the  length 
next  the  caboose  had  worked  almost 
out  of  the  socket,  letting  the  logs  sag 
out  so  far  that  they  hit  the  bridge, 
driving  one  big  spruce  directly 
hack  into  the  caboose ;  this  had  hit 
Caswell  and  injured  him  severely. 

It  took  the  united  efforts  of  half  a 
dozen  huskv  lumber  jacks  with  cant- 
dogs  to  pull  that  log  out  of  the  ca¬ 
boose.  Caswell  eventually  recovered. 

Another  time  coming  down  the 
branch,  with  a  heavy  log  train,  on 
rounding  the  big  curve  just  north  of 
Bethlehem  Junction,  it  was  begining 
to  get  light  enough  so  I  could  see.  I 
discovered  we  had  an  empty  length 
near  the  middle  of  the  train.  I  know 
that  length  was  loaded  when  we  left 
Fabyans.  We  stopped  at  the  station 
and  I  went  over  to  investigate.  The 
trucks  appeared  to  be  all  right  except 


132 


one  blink  stake  iron  was  broken  off. 

On  returning  that  afternoon  we 
found  this  length  had  been  derailed  on 
the  big  curve  at  Ammonoosuc  Fails  a nd 
the  wheel  on  the  left  side  going  over 


J.  A.  DODGE 

Appointed  Superintendent  B.,  C.  &  M.  R.  R. 
to  succeed  John  W.  Lyon.  He  resigned  in 
1882  and  died  a  year  later. 


and  striking  the  rail  on  the  right  side 
with  such  force  as  to  break  the  stake- 
iron  on  the  rear  bunk  letting  every  log 
down  the  high  bank ;  the  truck  was 
drawn  off  track  at  Zealand  where  it 
struck  a  frog  and  came  on  the  track 
again,  and  the  men  on  the  train  know¬ 
ing  nothing  about  it  until  it  began  to 
get  light  enough  to  see  it  at  Bethlehem 
Junction. 

The  old  Mitchell  coupler  came  near 
being  my  finish  when  they  were  in 
operation.  I  was  running  the  way- 
freight  between  Woodsville  and  Con¬ 


cord  and  one  day  I  had  a  car  to  set  off 
at  Concord  transfer;  it  was  equipped 
with  a  Mitchell  coupler,  and  was  sup¬ 
posed  to  be  uncoupled  by  pulling  up 
a  rod  from  the  dog  stand  at  top  of  the 
car.  The  rod  was  a  little  too  long  ?t\d 
the  coupling  pin  was  not  fully  clear  of 
the  link  and  when  I  gave  the  engineer 
the  stop  signal  he  reversed  the  engine 
and  the  car  not  being  uncoupled  I  was 
thrown  from  the  top  to  the  track ; 
fortunately  I  was  not  hurt  in  the  least. 

A  friend  of  mine  told  me  today  of 
one  of  the  old  timeB.  C.  &  M.  station 
agents  at  North  Haverhill,  Adolphus 
Willey,  who  was  a  shoemaker  as  well 
as  railroad  man,  and  who  had  his 
shoemaker’s  bench  in  his  little  office  in 
the  station,  and  when  the  duties  of 
agent  did  not  keep  him  busy  he  work¬ 
ed  at  repairing  shoes  and  boots  for  the 
villagers. 

Thinking  of  the  old  B.  C.  &  M.  days, 
memory  of  men  comes  back  and  of 
some  funny  incidents,  funny  to  re¬ 
member  but  not  always  to  participate 
in.  Like  slipping  off  the  top  of  an 
icy  freight  train  in  motion,  like  Ike 
Paling  did  when  coming  down  through 
Keyes’  Woods  one  slippery  winter  day. 
It  had  been  raining  and  froze  almost 
as  fast  as  it  fell  making  the  tops  of 
the  cars  completely  covered  with  ice. 

Ike  was  on  top  “holding  them  down 
the  hill”  when  by  a  sudden  lurch  of 
the  car  he  lost  his  footing  and  slid  off 
the  top,  striking  outside  the  track 
and  rolling  down  the  bank  to  the  foot : 
strange  that  one  could  take  such  a 
tumble  without  being  killed,  but  he 
was  not  seriously  hurt.  Another  old 
timer  that  took  some  such  tumble  was 
Mike  Glynn  wav-freight  brakeman  at 
East  Tilton.  Mike  was  not  hurt. 

Lockhart  Johnson  and  Harvey  Dex¬ 
ter  old  time  freight  conductors  on  the 
Mountain  Hoad  long  since  gone,  Elmer 
Hall  and  Riley  Avery,  trainmen  who 
were  sent  to  the  St.  J.  &  L.  C.  for  a 
year  or  two,  and  never  liked  there. 

Ike  Glynn  an  old  time  engineer  who 


133 


run  on  the  Branch,  Sam  Carr  who  used 
to  look  after  engineers  at  Woodsville, 
who  lost  his  foot  by  being  crushed  by 
an  engine,  John  Quimby  and  Will 
Conner,  two  engineers  of  those  days. 

Will  Frizzell  was  engineer  on  what 
was  called  the  Mountain  freight,  who 
run  with  Harvey  Dexter  with  Eugene 
Clough  as  brakeman.  Then  there  were 
Will  and  Gene  Mclntire,  freight  con¬ 
ductors  ;  afterwards  Gene  was  station 
agent  at  Wing  Road.  George  Mason 
another  old  time  trainman  who  after¬ 
wards  was  an  engineer  on  a  Pennsyl¬ 
vania  Road. 

George  Thyng  and  Jed  Bean  en¬ 
gineers  on  the  way  freight.  The 
Leonard  boys,  Charley  went  on  the 
Upper  Coos  Railroad  .afterwards  the 
Maine  Central  and  there  run  an  en¬ 
gine  for  years.  Frank  Clark  conduc¬ 
tor  also  went  to  the  Upper  Coos  Rail¬ 
road,  and  now  is  a  prosperous  mer¬ 
chant  in  Portland. 

Then  there  were  the  Dolloff  boys. 
Their  father  was  road  master  and 
looked  after  a  rail  shop  at  Lancaster. 
Charlie  Dolloff  is  now  road  master  on 
the  M.  &  W.  Railroad. 

James  Sawyer  another  old  B.  C.  & 
M.  man  used  to  superintend  a  rail 
shop  at  Woodsville. 

Then  there  were  the  Gannon  boys — 
Jim,  Tom  and  Tim :  John  Bisson,  a 
passenger  conductor  thirty  years  ago ; 
Martin  Perkins,  and  Dave,  his  broth¬ 
er.  two  old  time  engineers.  Then  I 
well  remember  Frank  Simpson  who 
has  already  been  mentioned. 

It’s  a  pleasure  to  recall  those  days 
of  early  railroading,  the  hardships  be¬ 
ing  forgotten  and  the  pleasant  memo¬ 
ries  of  those  times  and  the  men  we 
worked  with,  remain  only  clear  in 
our  memory. 

Yours  truly, 

Eugene  B.  Lane. 


Loren  Clough,  still  living  at  East 
Concord,  was  one  of  the  leading 
lights  in  the  system  of  the  olid  road 
forty  years  ago,  in  charge  of  East 


Concord  station  and  at  times  acting 
as  passenger  conductor.  It  is  evident 
it  was  a  custom  for  many  of  the  trus¬ 
ty  station  agents  in  early  railroad 
times,  to  run  passenger  trains  when¬ 
ever  an  extra  was  run,  or  someone 
took  a  vacation.  Loren  Clough  was 
and  is  still  faithful  to  God,  man  and 
his  employers. 


Laconia,  N.  H. 

April  29,  1919. 

Mr.  C.  E.  Caswell, 

Warren,  N.  H. 

Dear  Sir: 

Replying  to  yours  of  April  1;  beg 
to  say  that  I  remember  the  Went¬ 
worth  wreck  very  well. 

It  happened  forty  years  ago  last 
December.  The  train  had  forty-two 
cars  and  two  engines,  the  Franconia 
and  Moosilauke.  The  crew  was 
Henry  Mann,  conductor;  Melvin  Mann, 
brakeman;  Orrin  Bailey,  engineer; 
Hiarley  Whiting,  fireman  on  the  Moo¬ 
silauke.  John  March  as  engineer  and 
myself  as  fireman  on  the  Franconia. 

We  left  Lake  Village  about  8  :30  in 
the  evening.  At  Plymouth  we  stopped 
for  wood  and  water  and  made  good 
time  from  there  to  Rumney.  At  the 
little  cut  at  the  north  end  of  Rumnty 
yard  the  Franconia  gave  a  lurch  that 
was  followed  by  a  call  for  brakes  from 
Bailey.  This  proved  to  be  a  soft 
place  that  allowed  the  track  to  settle 
under  the  weight  of  the  engines.  We 
hunted  up  the  section  men  and  left 
them  to  take  care  of  this  place. 

At  the  upper  twin  bridge,  between 
West  Rumney  and  Wentworth,  we 
were  stopped  by  John  Roberts,  who 
was  foreman  of  the  West  Rumney 
section  at  that  time.  The  water  was 
running  over  the  track  just  north  of 
the  bridge;  but  had  not  washed  out 
to  do  any  harm,  so  we  got  over  that 
all  right. 

I  got  the  firebox  full  of. wood  about 
the  time  we  got  to  the  little  bridge 
where  the  highway  passes  under  the 
railroad.  Henry  Mann  was  on  my 


134 


seat,  and  luckily  for  the  boys  behind, 
I  stepped  to  the  right  hand  side  to  get 
a  look  ahead.  The  wind  was  with  us 
and  we  were  going  so  slow  that  the 
smoke  and  steam  was  hiding  the  track. 


CHAS.  F.  G.  CLARK 

Now  Residing  at  Marlboro,  Mass.  Was  B.,  C. 
&  M.  Passenger  Brakeman  in  1882 


In  fact,  when  I  first  looked,  I  could 
not  see  our  own  smoke-stack.  I 
stooped  down  between  the  engine  and 
tender  to  get  a  look  under  it,  but 
couldn’t. 

Perhaps  a  hundred  feet  from  the 
trestle,  the  wind  gave  a  little  fluke 
and  lifted  the  steam  for  a  moment  and 
I  saw  that  the  track  was  out  of  line. 
I  shouted  to  John,  “It’s  gone,”  and 
jumped !  Bailey  saw  me  and  calling 
to  his  fireman,  they  both  jumped.  I 
stood  by  the  track  and  heard  John 


whistle  for  brakes ;  saw  the  fire  fly 
from  the  drivers  as  he  reversed  her ; 
saw  him  come  into  the  gangway ;  fold 
his  old  coat  around  him  ;i  jump 
straight  out  into  the  water  and  disap¬ 
pear ;  and  then  things  began  to  hap¬ 
pen. 

The  old  Franconia  seemed  to  settle 
straight  down ;  while  the  Moosilauke 
tilted  over  on  her  side ;  and  the  cars 
filled  in  on  top  of  them.  Something 
got  on  the  old  Moosey’s  whistle  lever 
and  opened  it  up;  and  the  moans  end 
gurgles  and  groans  and  shrieks  that 
came  from  her  as  the  water  washed 
over  her,  had  the  last  notes  of  a  dying 
swan  beat  to  a  frazzle. 

As  soon  as  the  train  stopped,  we 
crawled  under  and  started  down  the 
bank  after  John.  He  had  been  car¬ 
ried  quite  a  ways  down  strep m  to 
where  the  current  was  not  quite  so 
strong ;  and  had  finally  got  hold  of 
some  alders  and  pulled  himself  out. 
I  met  him  coming  up  the  bank  and 
his  greeting  was  “Wal  George,  the 
Lord  saved  us  that  time.”  I  had 
heard  him  say  that  a  good  many  times 
before  but  perhaps  never  when  I  felt 
so  much  like  agreeing  with  him. 

We  went  back  to  the  saloon,  where 
we  found,  the  conductor.  It  seems 
that  he  had  climbed  to  the  top  of  the 
cab  to  get  a  look  over  the  smoke;  and 
had  jumped  from  there  to  the  ground 
on  the  opposite  side  from  us  and  not 
seeing  any  of  us  thought  we  had  all 
gone  in. 

I  have  seen  a  few  papers  of  “The 
Warren  News”  containing  letters  and 
sketches  on  the  old  B.  C.  &  M.  and 
was  much  interested  in  them.  Am 
glad  you  have  decided  to  put  it  in 
book  form,  so  I  can  get  it  all. 

Wishing  you  succes  in  your  venture, 
I  remain 

Yous  truly, 

George  W.  Slierwell. 


In  the  early  50’s  passenger  fare 
was  5  cents  extra  when  paid  on  the 
trains  and  there  were  no  rebates. 


Early  Days  on  the  B.  &  M. 


135 


(From  a  Pamphlet  Distributed  by  the 
National  Shawmut  Bank.) 

“The  Boston  &  Maine  was  origin¬ 
ally  the  ‘Andover  Branch,’  running 
from  Wilmington,  on  the  Boston  & 
Lowell,  nine  miles  to  Andover,  over 
the  road-bed  now  used  for  the  Law¬ 
rence  branch  of  the  southern  divis¬ 
ion,  as  far  as  Wilmington  Junction, 


WILLIAM  “Bill”  KIMBALL 

An  old  time  B.,  C.  &  M.  Engineer 


thence  substantially  over  the  present 
western  division  road-bed  to  And¬ 
over.  The  construction  was  con¬ 
tinued  each  year,  first  to  Haverhill 
(Lawrence  was  not  built  then), 
thence  to  Exeter,  N.  H.,  thence  to 
South  Berwick,  Maine,  where  it  con¬ 
nected  with  the  Portland  line,  after¬ 
wards  part  of  the  Eastern.  The 
road  then  ran  from  a  junction  15 


miles  from  Boston  to  a  junction  40 
miles  from  Portland,  and  was  a  one- 
horse  affair  run  by  prudent,  earnest 
but  small  men.  They  had  three  lo¬ 
comotives — the  Andover,  HaverhilL 
and  Rockingham — and  N.  G.  Paul,  a 
part  owner  and  afterward  an  official, 
was  an  engine  man.  He  is  said  to 
have  been  the  original  actor  of  the 
‘Locomotive  and  tfie  Old  Ladies’ 
Clothes-line  scenario,’  and  the  inven¬ 
tor  of  the  glass  wind  sield  from 
which  the  locomotive  cab  was  de¬ 
veloped,  The  management  was  petty 
in  character,  disputes  with  the  Bos¬ 
ton  &  Lowell  as  to  each  other’s  cars 
and  engines  ocupying  certain  tracks 
at  Wilmington  being  frequent.  The 
public,  in  fact,  was  often  inconven¬ 
ienced  as  a  result  of  trivial  quarrels 
of  this  kind.  In  1844,  the  Boston  & 
Marne  built  from  the  present  Wil¬ 
mington  Junction  to  Boston,  and 
abandoned  the  track  from  that  point 
to  Wilmington,  having  nothing  more 
to  do  with  the  Boston  &  Lowell,  with 
which  it  was  not  friendly.  It  also 
later  built  from  South  Berwick  into 
Portland.  In  the  late  forties,  Law¬ 
rence  was  built  and  the  road-bed  was 
changed  from  Andover  so  as  to  pass 
through  the  south  side  of  the  new 
city.  Shortly  after  this,  the  Boston 
&  Maine  thought  to  tap  some  of  the 
Poston  &  Lowell  business  by  build¬ 
ing  from  the  present  Lowell  Junction 
to  Lowell.  The  Boston  &  Lowell  re¬ 
taliated  by  building  into  Lawrence, 
over  the  old  abandoned  Andover 
branch  road-bed  from  Wilmington  to 
Wilmington  Junction,  thence  over 
the  Salem  &  Lowell  to  Tewksbury, 
thence  into  Lawrence.  Competition 
was  carried  on  fiercely,  at  times  in 
fare  and  freight,  but  mostly  in  train 
service,  but  the  Boston  &  Lowell  al¬ 
ways  felt  that  they  had  the  advan¬ 
tage.  The  equipment  of  the  Boston 
&  Lowell  was  always  superior  to  that 
of  the  Boston  &  Maine  and  the  man¬ 
agement  in  the  hands  of  men  of 

larger  calibre.  Even  in  the  late 
eighties  the  Boston  &  Maine  had 


136 


light  rail  with  wood  fish-plates  (tie 
bars)  on  their  main  line,  and  their 
express  locomotives  were  mostly 
equipped  with  the  Westinghouse 
brake.  Block  signals  were  almost 
unknown.  At  that  time  the  Boston 
&  Lowell  had  several  60  to  80-ton 
express  locomotives,  Hall  and  Union 
block  signals,  and  the  Westinghouse 
brake  on  all  passenger  equipment. 
At  the  time  of  the  lease  of  the  Bos¬ 
ton  &  Lowell  to  the  Boston  &  Maine 
the  old  employees  of  the  former,  it  is 
said,  wept, as  they  thought  they  were 
making  a  poor  swap  of  employers 
from  the  progressives  of  the  Boston 
&  Lowell  to  the  hitherto  picayunes 
of  the  Boston  &  Maine.” 


Boston  &  Maine  Oldtime  Wages. 

(By  Judge  Wells  in  Somersworth  Free  Press.) 

In  1849  the  Boston  &  Main  rail¬ 
road,  under  the  acts  of  the  Legisla¬ 
tures  of  Massachusetts,  New  Hamp- 
sire  and  Maine,  had  been  extended 
from  Boston  to  South  Berwick,  Me., 
where  it  united  with  the  Portland, 
Saco  &  Portsmouth  railroad,  a  dis¬ 
tance  of  741/i  miles,  having  19  Ms 
miles  of  double  track,  and  branches 
to  Medford  and  Methuen  and  Great 
Falls,  amounting  to  10%  miles.  A 
report  of  the  committee  of  investi¬ 
gation  appointed  by  the  stockholders 
of  the  Boston  &  Maine  railroad,  pre¬ 
sented  at  a  meeting  in  Exeter,  N.  H., 
May  28,  1849,  has  just  come  to  light. 

From  that  report  we  learn  that  the 
45,000  shares  of  the  stock  issued 
was  owned  by  people  of  the  three 
states.  The  books  showed  an  ex¬ 
penditure,  from  the  beginning  of  the 
road  to  June  1,  1849,  of  $843,532.- 
27.  Of  that  amount  bridges  had 
cost  $358,683;  depots,  engine 
house,  machine  shops  and  other 
buildings,  $404,854  and  land  and 
fencing  and  rolling  stock  the  bal¬ 
ance. 

At  that  time  the  road  employed 
430  persons,  and,  in  view  of  the  de¬ 
velopment  of  the  road  since,  the  list 
is  of  interest. 


In  the  superintendent's  office 
there  was  a  cashier  who  was  paid 
$1,000  a  year,  two  clerks  at  $480, 
and  an  office  boy  at  $180. 

There  were  nine  conductors  on 
pasenger  trains,  five  being  paid  $50 
a  month;  one  at  $45  a  month;  two 
at  $41.67;  and  one  at  $35  a  month. 
There  were  four  conductors  on 
freight  trains,  one  at  $45  a  month, 
and  three  at  $40. 

There  were  24  ticket  masters,  the 
highest  salaried  man  being  the  offi¬ 
cial  at  Boston  at  $60  a  month.  Those 
at  Lawrence  and  Great  Falls  received 
$50  a  month,  while  Andover,  North 
Andover,  Exeter,  Newmarket  and 
Dover  paid  $40  a  month;  Somerville, 
South  Reading,  Reading,  Haverhill 
and  Rochester  paid  $3  5  a  month; 
Medford,  $33.99;  Malden,  Ballard- 
vale,  Durham  and  Salmon  Falls, 
$30;  Melrose,  Plaistow,  East  Kings¬ 
ton  and  South  Newmarket,  $20; 
Bradford,  $16,  and  Newton,  $13. 

Thirty-seven  men  were  employed 
at  the  freight  house  in  Boston  and 
14  at  freight  houses  elsewhere  on 
the  system,  laborers  *  receiving  no 
more  than  $1  a  day. 

There  were  six  train  baggage 
masters  at  $35  a  month;  ;five  depot 
baggage  masters  from  $25  to  $35  a 
month;  four  porters  at  stations, 
ranging  from  $26  to  $30  a  month; 
ten  watchmen,  ranging  from  $2  6  to 
$30  a  month;  13  switchmen,  ranging 
from  $15  to  $33.33  a  month,  the 
highest  paid  man  being  at  Boston; 
17  enginemen,  11  of  them  at  $60  a 
month,  one  at  $50,  one  at  $45,  and 
three  at  $40;  14  firemen,  11  of  them 
at  $30  a  month  and  three  at  $26;  14 
brakemen,  13  of  them  at  30  a  month 
and  one  at  $26;  eight  gatemen,  paid 
from  $26  to  $30  a  month;  31  wood¬ 
men,  receiving  from  $26  to  $35  a 
month;  three  draw-tenders,  one  at 
$30  a  month,  one  at  $1  a  day  and 
one  at  eight  shillings  a  day;  two 
blacksmiths,  receiving  $1.50  and  $1 
a  day;  75  repairmen  receiving  from 
80  cents  to  $1  a  day;  15  men  in  the 


]37 


car  and  machine  shops  at  Lawrence, 
60  men  at  the  engine  shop  in  Boston, 
all  of  whom  received  from  66  cents 
to  $2.20  per  day;  two  roadmasters 
at  $750  a  year  each;  one  wood  agent 
at  $1,000  a  year  and  one  master  of 
transportation  at  $9  00. 

The  superintendent  was  paid 
$2,000  a  year,  the  president  $2,000, 
the  treasurer,  $1,500. 

In  1849  the  Boston  &  Maine  own¬ 
ed  35  passenger  cars  and  40  stoves, 
appraised  at  $51,265;  16  passenger 
baggage  cars,  valued  at  $9,052;  24 
engines,  which,  with  appurtenances, 
were  valued  at  $121,050;  eight  snow 
plows,  valued  at  $2,895. 

William  Kimball  was  engineer 
when  the  stack  of  a  locomotive  fell 
off  near  Northfield  and  the  engine 
continued  her  run  to  Concord. 

It  was  Star  King  which  blew  up  at 
Belmont  soon  after  the  Tilton  &  Bel¬ 
mont  road  was  built.  She  was  re¬ 
paired  and  named  Belmont. 


George  Plummer  said  in  a  letter 
he  doubted  if  there  ever  was  a  loco¬ 
motive  known  as  Lady  of  the  Lake. 
He  always  knew  her  as  “Lady.”  I 
have  heard  quite  a  number  say  the 
same.  By  research  I  find  that  one 
time  the  “Lady”  was  named  Lady  of 
the  Lake,  but  owing  to  there  being  a 
steam  boat  on  Lake  Winnipesaukee 
by  the  same  name,  the  two  conflicted 
and  the  railroad  people  had  to 
change  her  name.  I  am  told  the 
name  was  just  beneath  the  stack 
along  the  sides  of  the  boiler. 


Mrs.  Learned  of  East  Piermont, 
daughter  of  the  late  Josiah  Hardy, 
writes  me  that  when  she  was  a  child 
a  year  and  a  half  old  her  father  was 
foreman  on  North  Haverhill  section, 
nearly  60  years  ago.  One  night  he 
was  going  over  the  road  and  found  a 
broken  rail  which  must  be  changed. 
He  returned  home,  told  his  good 
wife  he  must  attend  to  the  break  in 


FRED  H.  NOURSE,  Lancaster 

For  Twenty  Years  with  the  B.,  C.  &  M. 


the  track  and  the  south  part  of  the 
section  could  not  be  gone  over  that 
night.  Mrs.  Hardy,  at  the  midnight 
hour,  dressed,  left  her  sleeping  child 
in  bed  and  herself  inspected  the 
south  of  the  section  in  the  darkness, 
making  the  three  miles  alone,  re¬ 
turned  home  and  had  a  warm  break¬ 
fast  waiting  for  her  husband  on  his 
return  at  daybreak.  What  changes 
in  60  years! 

Since  some  of  this  matter  has  been 
put  in  type  there  have  come  to  hand 
some  facts  which  might  have  been 
written  differently  had  I  known  the 
real  circumstances.  For  instance: 
The  Lady  of  the  Lake  was  sunk  at  a 
point  near  Glendale,  and  not  at  Lake- 
port;  J.  Fred  Leonard,  postmaster 
at  Woodsville,  writes  that  the  last 
he  knew  of  Henry  Simpson  he  was 


138 


running  a  baggage  car  between 
Omaha,  Neb.,  and  Denver,  Colorado. 
Charlie  Sanborn,  an  old  time  en¬ 
gineer,  is  now  running  on  the  A.  T. 
&  S.  Fe.,  between  Kansas  City  and 
Newton,  Kan.  Ed.  Buckley  is  still 
working  for  the  Boston  &  Maine  and 
resides  at  Concord.  Charles  Rowen, 
a  freight  conductor  6  5  years  ago, 
was  one  day  cautioning  a  brakeman 
about  overhead  bridges,  and  before 
night  be  himself  was  struck  by  a 


Frank  E.  Clifford  was  the  first  en¬ 
gineer  to  run  a  locomotive  to  Fab- 
yans.  The  boys  of  those  early  days 
all  respected  Frank  Clifford,  for  he 
was  a  good  and  faithful  man.  He 
learned  railroading  here  in  the 
mountains  and  in  after  years  went 
to  running  on  the  New  York  Cen¬ 
tral  and  resided  at  Buffalo,  N.  Y. 
On  July  1,  1919,  he  lost  his  life  in  a 
wreck  in  which  11  others  were  killed 
at  Dunkirk,  N.  Y.  A  press  dispatch 


CHOCORUA — Pet  Engine  of  the  B.,  C.  &  M.  Forty-five  years  ago. 


bridge  and  killed.  Frank  Swasey, 
whose  name  has  several  times  been 
mentioned  with  the  old  employees,  is 
now  residing  at  Laconia.  Swasey 
drove  an  ox-team  and  distributed  the 
rails  between  Wing  Road  and  Fab- 
yans.  I  have  many  times  listened  to 
my  father  tell  of  those  days  when  he 
was  helping  to  build  the  “exten¬ 
sion.”  As  I  used  to  sit  on  his  knee 
and  listen  to  those  “bedtime”  stories, 
little  did  I  realize  that  some  day  I 
would  write  a  history  of  the  days  of 
wood  burners  and  hand  brakes. 
Those  days  and  years  are  left  far  be¬ 
hind  in  the  progress  of  time  which 
is  so  swiftly  passing.  Newton  New¬ 
kirk  once  said,  “How  time  ske¬ 
daddles.” 


in  part  said:  “Engineer  Clifford  of 
the  New  York  Central’s  Western  Ex¬ 
press  desperately  tried,  according  to 
his  dying  statement,  to  avert  the 
rear-end  colision  with  train  No.  41,' 
which  caused  the  deaths  of  12  per¬ 
sons,  the  serious  injury  of  18  others 
and  slight  cuts  and  bruises  to  as 
many  more.  The  air  brake  failed  to 
work,  the  engineer  declared.  Wit¬ 
nesses  said  that  the  siren  was  still 
screeching  for  the  hand-brakes  when 
the  Westerner,  going  5  0  mile  an 
hour,  plowed  into  the  rear  coach  of 
.No.  41.  Engineer  Clifford  stuck  to 
his  post  to  the  end.  He  was  dying 
when  his  body  was  taken  from  the 
wreck  of  his  engine.  ‘The  brakes 
wouldn’t  hold;  they  wouldn’t  work,’ 


139 


he  gasped  just  before  he  d’ed.  The 
finding  of  a  body,  apparently  that  of 
tramp,  wedged  in  the  wreckage  back 
of  the  tender,  is  the  basis  for  a 
theory  that  a  man  stealing  a  ride  on 
the  blind  end  of  the  baggage  car,  ac¬ 
cidentally  or  deliberately  turned  the 
cock  rendering  the  air  brake  useless 
throughout  the  length  of  the  train.” 


Albert  A.  Kidder,  a  retired  mer¬ 
chant  of  Meredith,  was  in  my  office  a 
few  days  ago  and  I  found  him  a  jolly 
good  fellow  of  the  old  B.,  C.  &  M. 
days.  In  a  recent  letter  he  says  in 
part  that  he  started  with  the  B.,  C. 
&  M.  in  1869,  as  newsboy.  “Pedd¬ 
ler  Boy,”  as  he  was  known.  To  pay 
for  his  job  all  he  had  to  do  was  carry 
a  can  of  drinking  water  through  the 
trains.  He  tells  me  he  would  leave 
Meredith  for  Concord  in  the  morn¬ 
ing,  making  two  round  trips  a  day. 
Down  with  Tom  Robie  in  the  morn¬ 
ing  as  conductor,  Patch  Clifford,  en¬ 
gineer,  Fred  Clifford  (his  son)  fire¬ 
man;  back  to  Meredith  on  the  noon 
or  mail  train,  with  Sid  Russ,  conduc¬ 
tor,  Bogy  Drake,  engineer,  George 
Hutchins,  fireman,  Will  Rollins,  bag¬ 
gage  master,  and  George  V.  Moulton, 
brakeman.  The  second  trip  would 
be  with  Sid  Russ  as  conductor,  Dave 
Furgeson,  baggage  master,  Ed. 
Mann,  brakeman,  Henry  Little,  en¬ 
gineer,  and  Frank  Swasey,  fireman. 
The  last  trip  of  the  day  was  on 
Roby’s  train.  Tom  Robie  was  con¬ 
ductor,  George  Dow,  baggage  mas¬ 
ter,  Patch  Clifford,  engineer,  and  his 
son,  Fred  Clifford,  fireman.  In  this 
way  he  came  in  contact  with  every 
passenger  on  the  road  traveling  on 
those  four  trains  He  kept  this  up 
for  three  years,  and  then  left  to  at¬ 
tend  school.  Kidder  says  ‘that  good 
friend  of  mine’  Mr.  Dodge,  enquir¬ 
ed  what  I  was  going  to  do  after  get¬ 
ting  through  school,  and  said  if  I 
wanted  to  railroad,  come  to  him.  So 
in  1875  Mr.  Kidder  was  placed  in 
charge  of  the  first  parlor  car  the 
road  ever  owned  and  on  its  first  trip. 


This  car  was  named  “Plymouth.” 
Mr.  Kidder  remained  with  the  old 
road  for  a  number  of  years  and  knew 
everybody  connected  with  it  in  the 
’70s.  He  tells  me  how  he  used  to 
take  pride  in  going  into  Dodge’s, 
Whittier’s  and  Rodger’s  office  at 
Plymouth  and  turn  in  his  reports 
and  cash.  He  tells  how  Sid  Russ 
would  find  fault  if  a  link  was  too 
long,  as  he  was  short  legged,  and 
would  often  say,  “Sonny,  sing  out 
Mosquito  Bridge”  (now  Winni- 
squam).  However,  Sid  was  good  to 
all  the  boys.  The  writer  of  these 
pages  can  remember  the  kindness  of 
Sid  Russ  with  fond  recollections 
when  he  was  knee  high  to  a  grass¬ 
hopper. 


Warren,  N.  H., 

Friday,  July  11,  1919 
Mr.  Caswell.  In  today’s  News  I 
read  that  you  wanted  to  get  in  touch 
with  Henry  Simpson.  I  am  quite 
sure  that  he  died  many  years  ago. 
He  went  West  more  than  40  years 
ago  and  I  am  sure  he  died  in  Wyom¬ 
ing.  Frank  Simpson,  a  brother  of 
Henry,  married  Caira  Page,  a  sister 
of  Mrs.  Burleigh’s.  The  mother  of 
the  Page  girls  was  a  sister  of  Aunt 
Ruth  Harriman,  they  being  sisters  to 
my  grandmother.  Has  anyone  given 
you  information  of  William  Simp¬ 
son,  another  brother,'  who  was  sta¬ 
tion  agent  at  East  Haverhill  4  5  years 
ago?  He  sold  his  property  at  auc¬ 
tion  (where  Mrs.  Henry  Dearborn 
now  lives)  and  went  to  Larami, 
Wyo.,  in  October,  1876,  and  died  the 
next  June  from  drinking  cold  water. 
His  wife  was  Laura  Jenkins,  a  sister 
of  the  late  Robert  Jenkins,  who  used 
to  deal  in  granite  at  Haverhill. 
Their  father  was  “Wash”  Simpson, 
who  was  one  of  the  first  conductors 
on  the  road.  His  father  was  Green- 
leaf  Simpson,  an  old  stage  driver 
from  Boston  to  the  North  Country. 
Charles  Simpson  died  at  East  Haver¬ 
hill  many  years  ago.  Henry  Simp¬ 
son  was  a  soldier  in  the  Civil  war 


140 


and  married  a  girl  from  the  South. 
I  have  her  recipe  for  making  rum 
pickles.  Think  of  it!  Your  series 
of  letters  was  running  when  I  be¬ 
came  a  subscriber  so  I  wonder  if  you 
have  date  on  Sidney  Davis,  his 
brother,  Frank  Davis,  Neil  Cutting, 
Leonard  Crouch,  Fred  Nason,  who 
broke  for  Moody  Marston.  There 
was  Henry  Corliss,  Chauncy  Bryant 
and  Caleb  Burleigh.  I  knew  all 
these  I  have  mentioned  and  many 
others.  There  was  Johnnie  Ayer,  a 
brother  of  Charles  at  Plymouth, 
their  mother  being  one  of  Aunt 
Ruth’s  family.  As  long  ago  as  I  can 
remember  Frank  Cutting  was  section 
boss  at  East  Haverhill.  His  son, 
Frank  later  was  on  the  road,  I  think, 
as  station  agent.  I  think  your  book, 
as  I  understand  it  to  be,  will  be  very 
interesting. 

MRS.  A.  B.  PERRY. 

Elkhart,  Ind., 

July  30,  1919 

Mr.  C.  E  Caswell: 

Dear  Sir:  Please  accept  thanks  for 
the  papers  you  sent  to  me.  I  was 
glad  to  see  in  it  the  pictured  face  of 
your  father.  It  is  a  good  likeness  of 
him,  and  a  bright  fellow  he  was.  I 
thought  a  great  deal  of  him.  I  am 
sorry  he  has  passed  away  for  he  was 
not  old. 

I  could  have  told  you  a  great  deal 
more  about  the  B.,  C.  &  M.  road  and 
of  the  boys  that  worked  on  it  when  I 
did,  could  I  have  seen  and  talked 
with  you,  or  if  I  had  been  feeling 
well.  There  are  only  a  few  on  the 
road  now  who  were  there  when  I 
worked.  Some  that  fired  for  me  are 
there  yet  and  I  am  glad  that  I  have 
had  the  privilege  of  reading  about 
them  and  seeing  the  pictured  faces 
of  some  of  them,  as  James  W.  Foster 
has  sent  the  papers  to  me. 

Did  your  father  ever  tell  you  of 
the  wild  ride  some  of  us 'took  over 
the  summit  with  a  load  of  mast  logs? 
Conductor  Ezra  Mann,  and  I  as  en¬ 
gineer,  and  Charlie  Hoyt,  fireman, 


went  to  Littleton  with  engine  La¬ 
conia  and  got  2  4  cars  loaded  with 
mast  sticks  and  hauled  them  to 
Woodsville.  George  Furgeson 

shoved  us  over  the  hill  from  there 
with  the  mail  train  engine.  When 
we  got  to  East  Haverhill  we  asked 
Mr.  Dodge  to  let  him  go  to  Warren 
with  us  as  we  had  only  three  brakes, 
but  he  said  “No,”  that  the  way 
freight  was  in  on  the  side  track  and 


J.  WESTON  LYONS 

One  of  the  B.,  C.  &  M.  Engineers 

would  remain  there  until  we  passed 
through.  We  broke  two  of  the 
brakes  just  after  passing  Week’s 
crossing.  That  left  us  with  just  the 
caboose  brake,  behind.  We  went 
through  Warren  50  miles  an  hour 
and  did  not  stop  unntil  we  got  half 
way  to  Wentworth.  Charles  Hoyt 
would  look  at  me  and  I  at  him.  I 
told  him  that  my  wife  would  be  left 


141 


a  young  widow,  as  we  had  not  been 
married  long  then.  We  made  out  to 
get  to  Rumney,  there  we  broke  into 
the  depot  and  got  wood  enough  to 
take  us  to  Plymouth;  also  shoveled 
snow  into  the  tank  and  melted  it 
with  the  blowback  to  get  water  to 
take  us  there.  We  left  the  load  of 
masts  at  Plymouth  and  returned  to 
Woodsville  with  engine  and  caboose. 
Ezra  Mann  told  us  at  Plymouth  the 
lumber  men  (the  Brown’s)  were 
hanging  on  to  the  box  on  top  of  the 
caboose  while  the  train  was  racing 
down  the  summit  and  praying  that 
they  would  land  safe  somewhere  at 
the  foot  of  the  summit.  We  broke 
three  frogs  in  Warren  yard  that 
night.  What  great  risks  the  boys 
run  with  those  old  engines  and 
freight  car  brakes,  but  we  did  not 
realize  our  danger,  knew  our  duty 
and  tried  to  do  it  well. 

Yours  sincerely, 

J.  WESTON  LYONS. 


F.  D.  Gourley,  now  traveling  pass¬ 
enger  agent  for  the  Boston  &  Marne, 
was  in  the  early  railroad  days  a  bar¬ 
ber  at  the  Fabyan  house.  Later  he 
became  connected  with  the  B.,  C.  & 
M.,  and  since  has  made  railroading 
his  life  profession.  William  Gib¬ 
son  and  George  Spaulding  were  B., 
C.  &  M.  men  who  are  working  at  the 
present  day,  both  being  engineers  on 
the  mountain  road. 


Edward  J.  Large  is  a  present  day 
freight  conductor,  who  has  always 
proven  a  good  railroad  man.  He 
was  raised  in  Haverhill  and  has  an 
unusually  good  reputation  as  a  citi¬ 
zen  and  railroad  employee.  We  al¬ 
most  forgot  to  mention  Fred  Rob- 
shaw,  who  has  become  a  part  of  the 
freight  system  of  today.  He  started 
in  “climbing  the  ladders  of  the  old 
B.,  C.  &  M.  box  cars”  and  has  always 
kept  in  practice  and  has  proven  a 
good  man  for  the  several  roads 
which  have  succeeded  the  old  sys¬ 
tem. 


PETER  CLARK 


One  of  the  old  engines.  This  machine 
had  the  drop-hook  coupling.  The 
name  was  beneath  the  stack*. 


142 


Elsewhere  in  this  book  appears  a 
letter  from  A.  J.  Mooney  of  Salem, 
Mass.,  who  is  one  of  the  oldest  con¬ 
ductors  on  the  road  today.  Al. 
Mooney  has  seen  much  of  this  coun¬ 
try,  as  for  years  he  conducted  over¬ 
land  tours.  It  was  back  in  1882  he 
took  a  leave  of  absence  from  the  B., 
C.  &  M.,  and  made  his  first  trip  for 
Raymond  &  Whitcomb  with  a  per- 


conductor  on  the  P.  .&  F.  N.  R.  R., 
from  Bethlehem  Junction  to  Bethle¬ 
hem  street,  and  practically  had 
charge  of  the  narrow  gauge  road 
during  those  years.  For  29  suc¬ 
cessive  years  after  his  return  from 
the  South,  during  the  months  of 
September  and  October,  he  made 
regular  personally  conducted  excur¬ 
sions  to  Washington,  Atlantic  City, 


THE  OLD  PEMIGEWASSET  HOUSE 

Owned  by  the  B.,  C.  &  M. — This  picture  is  inserted  by  W.  H.  Mathews,  Boston,  an  em¬ 
ployee  of  the  house  thirty-five  years  ago.  (See  page  121.) 


sonally  conducted  tour  to  California. 
About  the  year  1885  he  went  down 
South  as  conductor  of  a  sleeping  car 
for  Lewis  &  Alden  of  New  York, 
where  a  little  later  he  was  made  gen¬ 
eral  passenger  agent  of  one  of  the 
Southern  railroads,  but  owing  to  the 
climate  not  agreeing  with  his  health, 

he  returned  to  New  England  and 
went  to  work  for  the  Concord  & 
Montreal  as  passenger  conductor. 
For  12  successive  seasons  he  was 


Montreal,  Quebec,  Niagara  Falls,  the 
White  Mountains  and  other  points, 
“known  as  Mooney’s  personally  con¬ 
ducted  tours.”  Mr.  Mooney  made 
the  trip  to  the  summit  of  Mt.  Wash¬ 
ington  with  Dr.  Ordway  of  Lawrence, 
Mass.,  who  ran  the  first  excursion  up 
the  mountain. 


Harvey  Titus  and  Jim  Jones  were 
two  men  well  known  in  their  day  and 
helped  to  make  railroad  history  40 
years  ago. 


143 


For  18  years  George  L.  Wilson 
was  station  agent  at  Haverhill.  Wil¬ 
son  could  not  telegraph  and  his 
daughter,  Carrie,  did  the  operating 
for  seven  years.  She  is  now  Mrs. 
Harvey  Large  of  Haverhill. 


Joseph  Mooney,  a  younger  brother 
of  I.  F.  and  A.  J.  Mooney,  made  his 
start  on  the  old  B.,  C.  &  M.  as  brake- 
man  for  W.  J.  Morrison  and  O.  R. 
Farror,  old  time  freight  conductors, 
and  later  went  West  and  made  good 
as  conductor  on  the  Union  Pacific 
railroad,  where  for  the  last  2  5  years 
has  runs  from  Denver  to  Cheyenne 
and  North  Platte.  He  lives  in  Den¬ 
ver  and  has  a  large  ranch  a  few 
miles  out. 


Here  is  a  letter  from  an  old  passen¬ 
ger  conductor  I  well  remember  in  my 
boyhood  days.  I  recollect  often  hear¬ 
ing  my  father  and  mother  speak  of 
George  V.  Moulton  as  being  a  “good 
man.”  As  I  got  older  I  found  this  to 
be  true  and  shall  remember  George 
Moulton  as  long  as  I  live.  Mr.  Moul¬ 
ton  is  unable  to  give  any  dates  in  his 
letter,  but  it  is  exceedingly  interest¬ 
ing  nevertheless,  and  for  a  man  of  his 
years  is  well  written.  Mr.  Moulton 
has  passed  four  score  years  and  must 
have  commencedi  radlllroadUnig  more 
than  fifty  years  ago. 

Laconia,  N.  H. 

June  16,  1919. 

C.  E.  Caswell: 

Dear  Sir: 

Have  been  very  much 
interested  in  the  letters  published  a- 
bout  the  old  B.,  C.  &  M.  and  will  try 
end  add  my  bit. 

I  cannot  give  dates.  But  commenc¬ 
ed  brakeman  between  Lake  Village 
and  Plymouth.  On  my  arrival  at 
Lake  Village  the  first  day,  the  con¬ 
ductor,  Natt.  Batchelder,  told  me  I 
would  have  to  go  with  an  extra  to 
Concord.  I  had  never  been  over  this 
road;  it  was  my  first  time  into  Lake 
Village.  While  waiting  for  Roby’s 


train  to  come  up  I  walked  down  to 
the  head  of  the  train  where  I  met  the 
engineer  who  was  Ralph  Adams.  I 
asked  him  if  he  was  to  take  the  train 
to  Concord?  He  informed  me  he  was; 
I  told  him  I  was  to  be  conductor  and 
brakeman  and  had  never  been  over 
the  road.  He  looked  at  me  and  said, 
“Be  careful  and  not  get  your  d — d 
head  knocked  off  on  the  bridges,  and 
hold  the  Red  Lantern  where  I  can 
see  it.”  After  the  arrival  of  Roby’s 
train  we  started.  I  was  perched  on 
the  top  of  a  box  oar  with  a  lantern  in 
each  hand.  Believe  me,  when  we  pas¬ 
sed  under  the  bridges  it  made  me  shi¬ 
ver.  After  a  few  weeks  between  Lake 
Village  and  Plymouth  I  broke  from 
Lake  Village  to  Woodsvillle;  then  af-. 
ter  a  few  months  from  Lake  Village 
to  Concord.  When  'they  commenced 
the  extension  from  Littleton,  Mr. 
Dodge  sent  John  Butler  up  there  to 
run  the  construction  train  and  he 
promoted  me  as  freight  conductor, 
running  between  Woodsville  and  Bos¬ 
ton,  four  days  for  this  round  trip.  I 
was  there  two  and  a  half  years.  When 
Charles  Simpson  left  the  road  and 
went  to  farming  at  East  Haverhill, 
Mr.  Dodge  transferred  me  to  a  passen¬ 
ger  train,  running  from  Littleton  to 
Boston.  Baggage  man  from  Littleton 
to  Plymouth,  brakeman  from  there  to 
Boston  via  Nashua  and  Lowell.  Bill 
Rollins  conductor,  Littleton  to  Ply¬ 
mouth,  Sid  Russ,  conductor  from  Ply¬ 
mouth  to  Concord. 

After  the  death  of  Rollins,  Mr. 
Dodge  promoted  me  to  conductor  to 
run  from  Lancaster  to  Plymouth 
which  I  did  twelve  years  down  and 
back  every  day  for  $60  per  month,  no 
extra  pay  but  lots  of  extra  time.  I 
think  I  lived  in  Littleton  about  two 
years  while  they  were  building  the 
road  through  to  Lancaster  and  then 
I  moved  there.  Run  from  Fabyans  to 
Concord  two  seasons. 

Well  I  rembmber  after  the  P.  &  0. 
was  built  from  Fabyans  to  Portland 


144 


running  excursion  trains  to  Upper 
Bartlett.  Mr.  Dodge  put  me  on  to  run 
them  from  several  points  on  the  road. 
The  fare  was  one  dollar  for  the  round 
trip;  and  such  crowds  we  used  to  get! 
I  made  twelve  trips  one  Pall,  and  ten 
the  next.  Great  times  for  excursions 
in  those  days.  After  the  death  of  Col. 
Alden  Lorimo  who  was  agent  at  Lit- 


GEORGE  V.  MOULTON 


tleton  my  good  and  true  friend  Ed. 
Mann  persuaded  me  to  leave  the 
train  and  go  there  as  agent  which  I 
did  and  acted  as  agent  two  years  then 
left  the  road. 

Those  were  good  old  days  for 
railroad  men,  all  except  the  pay. 
We  were  all  as  one  great  family  if 
either  one  got  in  trouble  aill  the  oth¬ 
ers  tried  to  help  him  out.  I  well  re¬ 
member  how  when  we  had  trouble 
we  would  tell  Sid  Russ  and  he  would 


listen  to  the  story  and  if  we  were  not 
in  the  fault  would  say  I  will  go  over 
and  see  the  captain  (Mr.  Dodge)  and 
would  say  the  boy  was  not  to  blame, 
that  would  be  the  last  of  it. 

I  still  have  my  trunk  which  I  car¬ 
ried  for  a  good  many  years  which  was 
a  present  from  Mr.  Charles  M.  Whitti¬ 
er.  It  is  the  same  today  as  it  was 
the  day  I  left  the  train;  many  things 
in  it,  that  remind  me  of  my  old  days 
of  railroading.  In  looking  over  an 
old  Diary  I  find  that  in  the  month  of 
October  1874  I  collected  and  turned 
in  to  the  office  at  Plymouth  $987  85 
cash  collected  for  fares  on  the  train, 
an  old  time  table  1867,  1870,  and  many 
other  old  relics. 

I  can  think  of  many  things  that 
happened  in  those  days  that  I  would 
like  to  talk  about  but  don’t  think  they 
would  look  well  in  print. 

Will  close  by  saying  1  am  now  liv¬ 
ing  one  mile  from  the  station  at  La¬ 
conia,  N.  H.  on  a  five  acre  farm. 
Would  like  to  hear  from  any  or  all  of 
the  R.  R.  men  who  may  read  this. 

Geo.  Y.  Moulton. 

I  am  certain  what  Fred  C.  Sanborn 
has  to  say  will  prove  mighty  interest¬ 
ing  reading  to  the  railroad  men  of  to¬ 
day,  to  say  nothing  of  the  old  boys  of 
forty  years  ago  who  are  now  living, 
as  well  as  the  public  in  general.  Mr. 
Sanborn’s  letter  is  worthy  of  a  place 
in  any  railroad  history,  and  I  was 
pleased  to  receive  it  and  give  it  to  the 
world  as  follows : 

Lakeport,  N.  H. 

April  7,  1919. 

Dear  Friend  Caswell : 

Your  papers  sent  me  from  week  to 
week,  containing  letters  from  the  old 
B.,  C.  &  M.  men,  have  been  read  with 
much  enthusiasm  and  greatly  enjoyed, 
so  now  I  will  endeavor  to  do  my  bit  by 
adding  one  more  letter. 

I  will  begin  by  writing  of  the  days 
back  in  the  winter  of  1873  and  ’74 
when  I  was  driving  two  horses  with 


14; 


dump  carts  attached,  building  the  road 
from  Twin  Mountain  station  to  Fa¬ 
byans. 

Only  a  few  are  living  now  who  took 
part  in  the  grading,  and  laying  of  the 
rails  to  the  Fabyan  House.  However, 
it  was  my  good  fortune  to  distribute 
the  spikes,  (in  company  with  Harvey 
Dexter,)  that  laid  the  first  rails  to  the 
Fabyans.  Dexter  in  after  years  was 
killed  in  the  Hoosac  Tunnel. 

The  road  was  completed  on  the  19th 
of  .Tune  1874,  if  I  remember  correctly. 
On  the  day  of  completing  the  laying  of 
the  rails,  Mr.  Fabyan,  then  an  old  man, 
came  out  to  greet  us  with  several  pails 
of  ice  cold  lemonade  which  disappeared 
very  rapidly,  it  being  an  extremely 
hot  day. 

On  a  trip  with  my  auto  through  the 
mountains  a  year  ago,  I  stopped  at  the 
Fabyan  House,  and  my  thoughts  ran 
hack  to  the  time  when  the  rails  were 
first  laid  there,  great  changes  having 
taken  place  meanwhile. 

Right  here  I  wish  to  say  that  the 
old  engine,  Peter  Clark,  was  the  first 
engine  that  ever  poked  her  nose  into 
the  Fabyans.  Frank  Clifford  was  the 
engineer,  and  Dan  Dolloff,  the  fireman. 
This  engine  was  used  to  push  two  or 
three  flat  cars  every  day,  loaded  with 
ties,  rails,  spikes  and  other  material 
used  in  building  the  road. 

Trains  began  running  regularly  to 
Fabyans  about  July  1,  1874. 

Mr.  Edward  Plaisted  was  the  man 
who  had  charge  of  laying  the  rails, 
and  grading  the  road.  He  left  the 
road  in  the  fall  of  1874,  and  went  to 
Columbus,  Ohio,  where  he  died  a  few 
years  ago.  Possibly  M.  E.  Cummings 
will  remember  Mr.  Plaisted,  as  at  that 
time,  his  family  lived  in  the  tenement 
of  the  depot  at  Woodsville. 

The  trainmen  on  the  Wing  Road 
branch  that  summer  were  Hi  Moulton, 
conductor,  and  also  had  charge  of  the 
branch.  Ira  Wallace  was  his  bag¬ 
gage  master,  and  soon  afterwards  went 
to  California  to  live.  John  Boynton 
was  engineer,  with  Fred  Whiting,  fire¬ 


man.  The  engine  was  McDuffy.  One 
part  of  the  White  Mountain  express 
ran  to  Fabyans,  the  other  through  to 
Lancaster,  with  George  V.  Moulton, 
conductor,  who  is  living  at  the  present 


FRED  C.  SANBORN. 


time  in  Laconia,  directly  across  Lake 
Opechee  from  my  home 
Harrison  Sargent  ran  a  parlor  car 
between  Fabyans  and  Boston,  and  was 
conductor  of  the  White  Mountain  ex¬ 
press  on  the  Wing  Road  Branch. 

Mr.  Woodman,  familiarly  known  as 
‘Grey  Eagle,”  ran  opposite  him  with 
L.  K.  Ford,  and  G.  E.  Cummings, 
brakemen  (by  hand)  from  Fabyans  to 
Boston,  air  brakes  not  being  in  use  at 
that  time  So^e  job  for  brake  man- — 
as  compared  with  today ! 

The  engine  that  took  the  express  up 
and  down  the  branch  was  the  “Lady,” 
with  Frank  Burleigh,  engineer,  and 


146 


who  is  still  running  an  engine  between 
Concord  and  Woodsville.  George  N. 
Piper  was  fireman. 

An  old  man  by  the  name  of  Wescott 
used  to  saw  wood  by  hand  for  the  use 
of  these  two  engines,  MeDuffy  and 
Lady,  at  Wing  Road.  David  Furgesou 
was  conductor  on  the  mail  train  be¬ 
tween  Lancaster  and  PI  mouth,  every 
day.  J.  C.  Badger  was  baggage  master 
on  the  mail  train  with  him.  I  re¬ 
member  at  that  time  the  White  Moun¬ 
tain  express  and  the  Mont,  xl  express 
were  run  a  one  train  to  Ihe  White 
Mountains.  The  late  E.  F.  Mann 
was  conductor  of  the  Montreal  express 
which  consisted  of  a  combination  car 
and  coach  -which  went  to  Woodsville, 
and  the  White  Mountain  express  ran 
through  the  Y. 

In  those  days,  Mr.  Dodge  and  Mr. 
Lyon  were  often  seen  at  the  Fabyans, 
as  the  road  was  new  and  many  things 
necessary  to  he  done  for  the  improve¬ 
ment  of  the  service. 

The  “Grand  Old  Man”  John  Varnev 
of  Tilton,  use  to  collect  toll  at  the  toll 
gate  on  the  turnpike  from  Fabyans  to 
the  base  of  Mt.  Washington. 

Some  of  the  hoys  have  liad  much  to 
say  about  the  engine  Marshfield  being 
renamed  “Granite  State.”  I  remember 
when  the  White  Mt.  Express  was  put 
on,  the  Mars  field  came  up  with  it  to 
Twin  Mt.  Str. /on,  that  being  as  far  as 
they  could  go  at  that  time,  Bobby 
Randall,  engineer,  and  Jed  Bean,  fire¬ 
man.  Bean  was  sick,  and  I  made  one 
trip  to  Wing  Road  and  return  for  him. 
Bobby  told  me  the  Marshfield  was 
too  large  for  the  branch,  that  it  would 
surely  be  off  the  track  around  some  of 
fhe  curves:  He  said  he  should  tell 
Ralph  Adams  the  Lady  ought  to  run 
up  the  Branch.  In  a  day  or  two  The 
Lady  appeared  on  the  Branch. 

Perhaps  I  said  too  much  about  the 
Branch,  but  as  that  wms  my  first  ex¬ 
perience  in  the  railroad  game,  thought 
a  little  history  about  one  of  the  con¬ 
necting  links  to  Mt.  Washington, 
might  be  of  interest  to  the  readers. 


Later  years  found  me  a  freight  con¬ 
ductor  on  the  old  B.  C.  &  M.,  and  af¬ 
terwards  a  passenger  conductor. 

When  the  lease  of  the  C.  &  M.  to 
the  B.  &  M.,  on  June  29,  1895,  my 
crew,  which  consisted  of  Bobby  Ran¬ 
dall  and  fireman,  Irvin  Way,  baggage 
master,  and  myself,  conductor,  were 
transferred  to  the  Northern  Division, 
then  to  the  Western,  and  at  the  pres¬ 
ent  time  I  am  with  the  Portland  Di¬ 
vision. 

Have  been  running  from  Laconia 
to  Dover  for  23  years. 

When  I  first  went  to  the  Northern 
Division,  I  felt  like  a  S(  hool  boy 
driven  from  home.  I  went  among 
railroad  men  I  had  never  known,  hut 
found  them  to  be  of  the  same  good 
quality  as  those  I  had  left  behind  on 
the  old  B.  C.  &  M. 

Mr.  Randall  and  I  ran  together  be¬ 
tween  Laconia,  Alton  Bay  and  Dover 
19  years  (a  long  time  for  an  engineer 
and  conductor  to  run  together.)  Mr. 
Randall  was  the  first  engineer  with 
whom  I  made  a  trip  as  freight  con¬ 
ductor.  His  last  trip  before  he  re¬ 
tired  on  a  pension  was  made  with  me. 
rl  range  coincidence.  The  poor  fel'ow 
lived  only  a  short  time  to  enjoy  his 
pension. 

Upon  his  retirement,  the  crew  that 
lie  had  run  with  presented  him  a  fine 
goldheaded  cane.  The  olfl  man  was 
greatly  affected  upon  receiving  it. 

Time  has  brought  about  many 
changes  on  the  old  B.  C.  &  M.  Many 
of  my  dear  friends,  as  Stonewall  Jack- 
son  said  “have  passed  over  the  River 
and  are  resting  under  the  shade  of  the 
trees,  waiting  for  the  rest  of  us  to 
come  over.”  It  will  not  be  long,  for 
those  that  were  the  young  men  35  or 
40  years  ago  are  getting  to  be  the 
old  men  of  today. 

Very  respectfully  yours, 

F.  C.  Sanborn. 
Conductor  Portland  Division. 


147 


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Finale. 


148 


Probably  blit  few  who  have  read 
these  pages  realized  if  it  had  not  been 
for  a  certain  woman  they  never 
would  have  been  writen.  That  wo¬ 
man  was  my  mother.  Her  sainted 
picture  has  been  on  my  desk  for  years, 


CHARLES  ED.  CASWELL 

and  I  often  call  her  back  to  earth  in 
gratitude  for  training  a  young  life 
when  my  steps  were  short. 

In  closing  this  little  history  which 
others  and  myself  have  so  much  en¬ 
joyed  preparing  that  coming  genera¬ 
tions  may  in  a  degree  realize  what 
railroading  was  like  when  railroading 
was  new,  it  is  hoped  those  who  read 

*7 


these  pages  will  square  their  lives,  as 
did  the  many  faithful  workers  of  the 
old  road  of  which  you  have  been  read¬ 
ing,  who  “builded  better  than  they 
knew.” 

I  looked  out  of  my  office  window  a 
few  nights  ago  as  the  midnight  ex¬ 
press  was  going  up  the  hill  on  its  way 
from  the  Atlantic  to  the  Pacific,  and 
at  that  midnight  hour  came  to  my 
mind  thoughts  of  days  and  years  long 
past  when  the  old  B.  C.  &  M.  trains  so 
laboriously  climbed  over  the  hills  and 
through  these  valleys,  on  the  same 
right  of  way,  and  the  faithful  hands 
which  pulled  the  throttles  of  the  old 
wood  burners  when  railroading  was 
new  in  this  country. 

Those  men  did  their  work  well  and 
one  by  one  as  the  years  came  and 
went,  their  mortal  bodies  were  con¬ 
signed  to  earth  to  rest  from  their  la¬ 
bors,  having  “builded  better  than  they 
knew and  though  their  ashes  rest 
beneath  the  sod  in  various  towns  and 
hamlets  along  the  road  which  they 
helped  to  lurid,  I  could  not  help  but 
thinking  they  are  not  dead  but  living 
on  in  a  mighty  theater  of  action  trans¬ 
mitted  down  to  the  present  day  and 
their  influence  will  go  on  and  on  to 
benefit  the 'world  and  coming  genera¬ 
tions,  growing  in  magnitude  as  the 
years  shall  come  and  go ;  and  may  we 
each  and  all  improve  upon  the  knowl¬ 
edge  handed  down  from  those  railroad 
men  who  “builded  better  than  they 
knew,”  in  the  days  of  the  old  B.  C.  & 
M. 


C.  E.  Caswell. 


DATE  DUE 


APR  1  9  I 

c  o 

zr> 

\ 

i 

UNIVERSITY  PRODUCTS,  INC.  #859-5503 


BOSTON  COLLEGE 


3  903 


020  84541  8 


. 


